Re:Simple Minecraft Clone in 580 lines of Python
by robomartin on Saturday March 30, 2013 @10:17AM
(#5465469)
I've been teaching my oldest kid (14) programming. By far the toughest problem is finding or developing motivation. Kids have too many interesting things pulling at them these days. Programming can be very dull and confusing until you have a good arsenal of tools and patterns in your head. That also works against developing motivation. It's simply not interesting.
Thankfully we do other things. I was able to use the example of when he learned to fly model airplanes to show why he had to push through the stuff that's just not fun to be able to reach for the good stuff. I reminded him of the work we had to do for him to be able to fly and land solo before he could start on fun aerobatics.
This is why I would suggest simply converting something like this to a tutorial might not guarantee engagement. You need to really think through the "fun and interesting" factor both during and after the course. Not easy.
Thankfully we do other things. I was able to use the example of when he learned to fly model airplanes to show why he had to push through the stuff that's just not fun to be able to reach for the good stuff. I reminded him of the work we had to do for him to be able to fly and land solo before he could start on fun aerobatics.
This is why I would suggest simply converting something like this to a tutorial might not guarantee engagement. You need to really think through the "fun and interesting" factor both during and after the course. Not easy.