Teaching logical/analytical thinking
- by Joshua
I have been trial running a club in which I teach programming for the past year and while they have progressed what they really lack is the most fundamental concept to programming, analytical thinking.
As I now approach the second year of teaching to the children (aged 12 - 14) I am now realising that before I begin teaching them the syntax and how to actually program an app (or what they would rather, a game) I need to introduce them to analytical thinking first.
I have already found Scratch and similar things such as Light-Bot and will most certainly be using the, to teach them how to implement their logical thinking but what I really need are some tips or articles on how to teach analytical thinking itself to children aged 12 - 14.
What I'm looking for are some ideas on how to teach the kind of thinking that these kids will need in order to get them into programming, whether that be analytical, logical or critical. How and what should I teach them relating to the way their minds need to be wired when programming solutions to problems?