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Comment by moistgorilla | Hacker News Reader

Has anybody considered the idea of stealth teaching young kids rather than forcing them to memorize things? Imagine that instead of watching useless cartoons kids where playing games like this (robomind) and or dragon box. Maybe throw in some strategy games that tell accurate history of the world and some economy games. I just feel like this would be extremely effective in teaching younger minds.

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That's a good idea. I feel one of the biggest reasons I did as well as I did in grade school history classes was how often I played Age of Empires II and Civilization III. The in-game manual for Civ was particularly interesting, since every unit and mechanic also had a second, historical article covering that topic. It was almost like a subset of Encarta.

I've tried various means of getting my kids (both under 10) programming and the fundamental hurdle is they don't want to sit at a keyboard long enough to make any progress. 15 minutes is about the limit for attention - if there's no reward, in terms of achieving something, it won't work with kids under 10 IMO. The only successes I've had are Cargobot - the iPad game and http://drtechniko.com/2012/04/09/how-to-train-your-robot/ - this is great as its programming without needing computers

Spacechem might be a game with a similar theme: http://spacechemthegame.com/

While I love Spacechem, it's probably too difficult for young children to enjoy.

I think you are correct about the short attention spans and need of quick rewards. Here is my strat to combat it.

My Son is 2 yrs old, and I want to start teaching programming at 5.

2-3 work on reading 3-4 work on basic math 4-5 work on basic algebra (w/tools like dragon box of course)

5+ start programming strat - find an open source game - start playing it with my son - after a while start modifying the code with my son

To sum it up in one sentence... get your child emotionally invested in the environment before trying to show him how to manipulate it.

I apologize beforehand because it's none of my business, but I must say that perhaps that's really not such a good plan. Life is short, but not (hopefully for your son) that short that you want to teach him algebra before the poor boy is even 5!

It might backfire. In many (but not most) cases the child actually gets to resent this kind of "education" instead of loving it.

It's great to want them to love reading books, love mathematics, love music, love science and encourage thinking, but a life-long passion for these good things is only guaranteed if they choose them.

Postpone your plan 3 years (5-8 instead of 2-5) and IMO it will be 10 times better.

you seem to imply that algebra isn't fun. some people enjoy it....

Some being the key word. And also the age is an important factor too.

I enjoyed it too, my only objection is that it might actually put them off entirely instead of making them love it if it's presented to them when they're not ready (and I think 4-5 is too young).

I think your concerns are valid and no apology is necessary but it is appreciated. What I did not get into in my original post is how I am currently integrating the teachings into his life.

Rule #1 for me is to never assume what my child is capable or incapable of learning.

Rule #2 do not force learning and figure out how to make it enjoyable.

I have already started teaching him how to read. Most mornings I ask him if he wants to play letters. If he says no we do something else. If he says yes I practice with him. It started out learning to recognize the word CAT. After one week it turned into learning about 12 words. Now it consists of practicing his vowel sounds. Typically we play this game for about 5 minutes. I always do this in the morning because that is when he is the most open to learning. We use a dry erase board so somewhere around the 5 minute mark it degenerates into doodling pictures of cats, dogs, mommy and daddy. Sometimes he wants to try and trace the letters on the board. The best part is, even when letters is over and we are drawing, he is still learning. So I do not believe that I am in danger of turning him off to the joys of learning.

He is already playing dragon box. He can play up to the 13th level by himself at which point he starts asking daddy for help. He usually asks for daddy's phone about once a week to play dragon box. His favorite part is when the dragon gets bigger. Then he yells "It got bigger daddy! :)"

Assume nothing, try everything and you will discover amazing things.

:) That sounds great to me! Thanks for taking the time to write it down.

Agree 100%, especially with rule #1.

I typically take the Feynman route... http://thenearbypen.blogspot.com/2009/11/feynmans-father.htm...

You'd be surprised how much of the 'complicated' stuff sticks, and comes back at a later time when they have an Aha! moment and it all clicks.

By the way, I've learned sooo much doing this, e.g. I've recently discovered that Pluto isn't a planet anymore... :p

When I got to college, the thing I really, really wish my family had pushed me towards at a young age was music. My roommate was a music major and while he later focused on engineering, his musical talents were the coolest thing in the world for his social life.

Test your theory. Teaching methods can be a crap shoot. What seems like it should work sometimes doesn't, and vice-versa. And it varies across groups. Your idea sounds like a good one.

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