Scratch
It has been around for a while, but if you haven’t seen it already, and have young learners interested in computers then Scratch is a must have. It is a visual programming environment specifically designed to introduce children to programming concepts, and the people at MIT have done a fantastic job in my view.
As they say, “the proof of the pudding is in the eating”, and so I introduced Scratch to my 10 and 12 year old sons a couple of weeks ago and they have taken to it like ducks to water. With very little prompting from me they have picked up the basic concepts of variables, loops, etc.
I see now they also have a ‘Scratch board’ available that plugs into a USB port and enables you to add external inputs to your program - guess what will be high on the birthday present list if the boys see that!
In my view anybody teaching primary school maths at the 10-12 year old level should look seriously at introducing Scratch to help with teaching concepts of algebra, etc. As is stated in the Scratch info
“They also gain an understanding of important mathematical concepts such as coordinates, variables, and random numbers. Significantly, students learn these concepts in a meaningful and motivating context. When students learn about variables in traditional algebra classes, they usually feel little personal connection to the concept. But when they learn about variables in the context of Scratch, they can use variables immediately in very meaningful ways: to control the speed of
an animation, or to keep track of the score in a game they are creating.”
“Well done” to the folks at MIT that have developed this and made it available.