This doubt is normal, and reflects the calm and objective attitude we should have when facing any social phenomenon. In fact, true artificial intelligence programming is based on the development of traditional sciences such as computer programming, physics, electronics, and even chemistry, which is far beyond the complete grasp of children at such a young age.
In today’s society, the speed of technological development can be described asgeometric. The growth of information, the speed of information dissemination, the speed of information processing, and the degree of information application are all increasing at an astonishing rate.
Information technology has had a profound impact on society, and humanity has entered the era of global informationization. With the continuous in-depth research into artificial intelligence, its role in various fields is becoming increasingly prominent, including manufacturing, services, healthcare, finance, education, and more.
The application of information technology not only improves production efficiency but also brings new challenges. The world-renowned management consulting firmMcKinsey has predicted that by 2030, artificial intelligence will lead to 11.8 million job transitions, causing 50% of jobs to disappear, resulting in 800 million people losing their jobs globally.
Li Kaifu, Chairman and CEO of Innovation Works, also predicts that jobs such as translation, news reporting, assistants, and accounting will see about 90% replaced by artificial intelligence in the next decade.
As we enter the era of artificial intelligence, accompanied by the explosion of big data,programming is likely to become a fundamental skill needed across various industries. We must acknowledge that programming and programming thinking have become crucial for children’s growth. Learning programming at a young age allows children to better understand the composition of the information society, becoming an important soft skill for them.
Although programming education typically relies on programming languages, children’s programming is by no means equivalent to just coding.
Target Audience: The target audience for children’s programming education is primarily children under the age of 17, covering preschool education, primary education, and secondary education. Children’s programming education needs to align with the age characteristics, knowledge structure, and life experiences of the children,following the cognitive rules and learning characteristics specific to each age stage, avoiding the imposition of adult professional programming skill training content.
Teaching Content:
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The best age for programming enlightenment is 4-6 years.
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During this stage, children can be guided through programming-related games, with the primary goal being to stimulate interest, exercise hands-on abilities, and cognitive logical sequencing, correctly guiding children in using electronic devices.
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Children’s logical thinking begins to form, allowing them to learn simple programming knowledge and become familiar with programming thinking concepts such as abstraction, classification, and decomposition.
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Through programming thinking, children can improve their life organization skills, select appropriate tools and platforms for systematic learning, and realize their ideas.
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Scratch is a great tool that allows programming through block-shaped modules, where users do not need to know English words or use a keyboard, but can directly drag modules with a mouse to create storybooks, animations, or games.
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If children wish to truly master programming languages, even graphical programming languages like Scratch require them to have mature logical understanding abilities.
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Parents can introduce hardware programming (like Arduino) or code programming (recommended Python, and for those interested in participating in the Information Olympiad) when children are in the fifth or sixth grade of elementary school, based on their interests.
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At this stage, interest and perseverance are equally important, and timely encouragement and guidance from teachers and parents are also crucial.
According to Piaget’s theory of children’s cognitive development, ages 7-12 are the concrete operational stage, during which children acquire relatively systematic logical thinking abilities. Early exposure to programming canhelp children lay a solid foundation and have the opportunity to develop skills that will benefit them for a lifetime.
A program on CCTV drew attention when an 8-year-old boy, Zhao Yizhou, independently designed an artificial intelligence recognition system that could accurately read a pet dog’s expressions and determine their emotions. He began learning programming at the age of 6 and won third place in a national creativity competition six months later. To date, Zhao Yizhou has completed over 500 programming projects.
In China, as early as 2014, Zhejiang Province took the lead in including programming in the information technology college entrance examination. In 2017, China first incorporated programming education into government decision-making. Several provinces and municipalities, including Zhejiang, Beijing, Shandong, Jiangsu, and Chongqing, have introduced programming education into primary and secondary school classrooms or college entrance subjects, gradually elevating programming from a hobby to a subject of education.
Abroad, children learn programming even earlier than subjects like politics, history, geography, physics, and chemistry. Therefore, children learning programming from a young age will have a stronger core competitiveness in the future.
As parents, we should possess foresight. Programming not only canhelp children develop good study habits but also enhance their initiative, focus, and time management skills. Many parents have reported that after their children began learning programming, their initiative in studying increased, they no longer indulged in games, and they understood how to plan their time.
The importance of programming education is self-evident; it not only helps children adapt to future society but also cultivates their innovative abilities.
Programming is not a course that everyone must take; the notion that “not understanding programming is illiteracy” is utterly absurd. If we continue to distort and glorify children’s programming, which was originally intended to cultivate interest and stimulate imagination, this course will not only fail to last but will also have the opposite effect. Learning children’s programming, cultivating an interest, and stimulating a way of thinking is undoubtedly beneficial.
We hope this content can help you gain a comprehensive understanding of the significance and value of children’s programming. If you wish to receive more relevant information and practical advice, please follow our official WeChat account, where we will continue to provide you with authoritative information and professional guidance.
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