Since I am very busy with college applications, the course will not happen until this Spring (2021). I'll update the page as soon as I have more information. If you have any questions, please contact me!
In this beginner programming course for 9 to 11 year olds, the students will explore the worlds of Scratch and Python. The best part of programming is using the program that you've worked so hard on. The students will get this feeling of satisfaction many times throughout the course, as they will make several games and programs.
Scratch is a fantastic programming langauge for beginners because it is so easy to get started, and the students will the see the results right away! Rather than using text, Scratch is a block-based programming language, which allows the students to focus on the concepts of coding rather than being caught up in all of the rules and potential typos. After the students master Scratch and create several games, they will move on to Python, which is one of the most beginner friendly text based languages out there.
Python is a great programming language for beginners because the syntax (basically the punctation/grammar for coding) is very simple, so this also allows the students to focus on the bigger picture. Python code reads just like English, so it will come more natural to the other students than other langauges.