Tuesday, July 17, 2018

Code for Teens: The Awesome Beginner's Guide to Programming - Crew Review



Knowing how to code opens up a huge world of new, exciting possibilities. Code for Teens: The Awesome Beginner’s Guide to Programming (Volume 1) from Code for Teens is the perfect tool to help teens (anyone with at least a sixth-grade reading level) learn JavaScript, the world’s most commonly used coding language. From understanding basic operations and functions to creating your own loops and beyond, you will begin developing the skills of programming pros in no time.

Students will need a desktop, laptop, or Chromebook in order to work through this book. They will not be able to complete the activities using a smartphone or tablet. Students will need to have Google Chrome on the computer.

This book empowers teens to teach themselves. Students are allowed to work at their own pace and figure things out on their own. The book is entertaining and keeps the reader engaged. The text is well organized and has a great balance of directed practice and independent exploration with easy-to-follow exercises. The author uses bold words to indicate that the word is important and that the word is defined in the glossary at the back of the book. The specific keys to type are also in bold, but they are capitalized too.

Each chapter provides quizzes, drills, review questions, and simple do-it-yourself projects to reinforce each lesson you learn along the way and ensure that these valuable skills are retained. With this book, you do not need to know anything about coding! In chapter one, your child will be expected to create and save a document, also known as their workbook, to keep their answers to the quizzes and drills. All of the answers are in the back of the book. Programming is like solving a puzzle or working through a thinking game. Students should not get too down on themselves if they are struggling through a concept. They simply need to try their best, check their answers, then move on and come back to the topic later. To hold students accountable, I highly recommend checking your student’s answers against the key, this will help them take the work seriously and be more diligent to complete it.

In Chapter 1, students assemble a few materials and write their first line of code.
In Chapter 2, students learn about data types used in JavaScript: numbers.
In Chapter 3, students learn about data types used in JavaScript: strings.
In Chapter 4, students learn about functions.
In Chapter 5, students learn about data types in JavaScript: Boolean.
In Chapter 6, students learn about data types in JavaScript: null.
In Chapter 7, students complete projects galore.
In Chapter 8, students learn arrays in JavaScript.
In Chapter 9, students learn about a loop in JavaScript.
In Chapter 10, students use the concepts already learned to create a Hangman game.

Volume 1 is a beginner’s guide to programming. If you have ever been curious about how to program but never knew where to begin, then this book is for you. In Volume 2, the author introduces students to HTML and CSS and shows them how to weave JavaScript in with these concepts.

Visit the Crew Blog to read what the Homeschool Review Crew has to say about Code for Teens: The Awesome Beginner’s Guide to Programming (Volume 1).

 

 


No comments:

Post a Comment