Wicked Pear Programming is the little umbrella under which I’ve parked the materials I’ve created or appropriated for teaching kids (and adults) the fundamentals of computer programming.
I’m a twenty year veteran of the software industry, including twelve years at Apple (where I worked on iPhoto and AppleTV, amongst other things). As the father of two children, I wanted to ensure my kids were not only digitally literate, but able to express themselves creatively in this new digital language. But, while there is a great mix of resources out there for children (and adults) to learn how to program, there is a lack of a cohesive program to teach and support a broad range of students from all kinds of socioeconomic backgrounds in a skill that is becoming critical in our society.
I helped develop a curriculum for teaching adults how to program apps for the iPhone and ran the course with a number of students who have gone on to careers at Apple and in the iPhone and iPad ecosystem. In the last three years I’ve been developing and delivering a programming curriculum for kids ages 7 and up in the form of summer camps, middle school (ages 12-15 in the States), and after school programs. I use a variety of programming techniques, platforms, and concepts in my classes, including Logo, Python, the Kano kits from http://kano.me, the excellent Greenfoot platform for teaching Java, as well as physical exercises to get across computing concepts and principles.
If you’re interested in teaching the course yourself, or something like it, would like to have the course taught, or simply want to find out more about the course, visit the Curriculum page, or the overview of the course. If you have any questions about the course or would just like to get in touch, feel free to drop a line below.
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