Programming for unlimited learning | Antonio García Vicente | TEDxYouth@Valladolid

Antonio, who is only 8 years old, programs not just so his classmates can learn the school lessons. He also teaches little kids the creative magic of some cables, a computer and a lot of imagination. In this talk, Antonio shares how he does it and most importantly, his vision on the importance of sharing resources so that everybody can learn and create.

Vallisoletano, 8 years old. His passion is programming. With it he imagines, create games, history, animations and learn by having fun and sharing his knowledge with little kids around the world. He is part of the CJP (Young Programmers Club) which is a Valladolid University program and he as well takes part of the Scratch Day, that is celebrated at the Escuela Universitaria de Informática.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx

I have two passions:

first football.

I am a super fan, let's see
if you can guess the team.

(Laughter)

I am of course, a Real Madrid fan.

I am also a goalkeeper
at the Villanubla football club.

My other passion are computers,
video games and programming,

which is what I am going
to talk about today.

During playtime,
we kids go crazy about

Wii, PSP and Nintendo.

We always try to play a little more

by finishing our home works faster

by cleaning up our bedroom,

whatever it takes in order
to pass the level,

or to beat our previous scores.

One day I thought:

What if instead of just playing,

I could create my own screens,
heroes and bad guys,

punches, pirouettes and extra lives?

Unattainable? No, no.

A child my age can do it!

While new technologies are everywhere,

and grownups use them for their stuff,

such as computers in the cars --

although my parents still get lost --

cell phones, checking up emails, shopping,

going through the internet;

children use them to play.

Because we are children,

and that's what we like the most.

We all know that for us children,

it is second nature to handle

those tech devices that many adults --

Maybe because we're not afraid to touch,

to try things out and see
what is in there,

or even break them, because
parents can later fix everything up.

(Laughter)

This childlike curiosity helped me
create my own games.

I realized that I could learn by playing

and play while learning.

I could experiment, create,

share, understand and reason

how things are made, and then use that

with everything else I was learning.

Turns out that all that learning

is what adults call Creative Computing.

I was once told that
programming is like a play.

We have a scenario with our actors

who will interact upon our instructions.

We can disguise them to create animations

or add up images, sounds, etc.

You probably think:
this sounds good, but a little kid,

alone in his room, programming --

Not exactly social.

Well, there is more to it than that.

It's an open, public community worldwide,

where we can belong and where
we can publish our programs,

or download programs and play with them,

see how they were made,
modify or improve them.

Nowadays, this community shares

more than 10,000 programs,

in a community of children, grownups,

and professors of colleges,
institutes and universities.

As I became more and more passionate,

I made new friends
with whom I shared creations,

then I thought that if
I taught my schoolmates

they could also enjoy as much as I.

Besides, programming helps me
learn in a very fun way

what we were learning at school.

It was an aha moment.

Last year, when we were learning
about human bones in class

I came up with a Q&A game, this is it:

(Video)

I'll show you the game I created
to learn the human skeleton bones

for a class I had last year.

In this game the human body

asks you where the bones are.

I'll click the green check

I'll display it full screen,

and it asks you where the jaw is?

you have to answer with the right number

if it is 10, 11, 1, 2 or 3.

I answer 10 which is the right one
and it says "Correeeect!"

but if your answer is wrong it says:

"Wah, wah, wah".

I recorded and added
every sound to the game,

I added right and wrong answers.

The program scores right
and deducts wrong answers

so I can now play
and compete with my friends,

to see who knows the human bones better.

(Applauses)

I had so much fun programming the game

and it became so helpful for my learning,

that I asked my teacher
if we could use it in class.

I wanted to show everybody, and so I did.

We picked a day for me to show
my classmates all those projects,

I showed them how they were
as capable as me to do the same.

Of course, they loved it.

Children and teachers liked it so much,
that this year we founded

The Programming Club
"El páramo de Villanubla"

a group of 26 children, so far,

who enjoy programming
individually or as a team.

Now I am working on a game about space

(Video) I am going to show you the game
I created with the video sensor,

about planets and the solar system.

You have to head punch the planets

so they don't fall into the sea.

I switch to full screen

I added right and wrong answers,
and here is the sea.

The planets start to fall,

You aim the camera towards you
so it follows your head movements

to head punch the planets
on the screen, if you hit them,

you hear the name and the planet shape
switches into a label on the screen.

and it scores points for every head punch.

But if you fail to punch the planet,

you hear them fall into the sea
and a point gets deducted from the score.

Well, I think you get the idea.

(Applause)

Isn't it cool? And knowing
that I did it, makes it better!

Besides I'm going to show it
to the 5-year-old kids at school

who are learning about the solar system,

and I bet this game
will help them learn better.

This makes me even happier,

knowing that my games
are not just fun, but useful.

Yet, it's not the first time I program
something for the little kids at school.

Since my parents noticed that I liked it
and I was doing well at school,

when I turned 7, I got a present.

When I first saw it, I was like,
What is this, some cables?

And they told me:
"With this you'll do magic."

They were right, I'm going to show you.

It was a Makey Makey board.

By connecting it to a computer,

you can plug cables
to anything as original as

gummies, play dough, fruit, pencils, water

or just by touching them,

make programs and games
work as if it is magic.

I told this to Marga, the teacher
of the 4 year olds at my school

and she asked me if we
could do a special project

about music and orchestra instruments.

Both teachers and students

would make instruments
with cardboard and foamy.

meanwhile, I had to build
the necessary programs

so that the instruments would
come to life and sound real.

So I told this to Juanje,
a friend of mine,

and we both started working.

For us this was an interesting project

but it was challenging:

because little kids
were supposed to listen to us,

and we are children too!

When everything was set,
we gather all the kids

and showed them the sound
of their instruments.

We even taught them that
they too had music within.

It was mind blowing!
Little kids were great.

We organized groups so everyone
could play their instruments.

We were truly seen as magicians

who had used some cables and a computer

to impress both adults and kids.

Well, do you want to se how we did it?

I'm going to show you

I brought some of those instruments.

By the way, I want to thank my school

for letting me show you
a bit of that magic,

something any kid can do

just with a little of imagination,
cables and a computer

To play this super piano
made by four year olds,

I have to remove my shoes.

My feet are clean, eh!

(Laughter)

Let's see if you know this song.

(Music)

(Applause)

Now I'm going to show you
how water makes more sounds

than those made when
it comes out of the faucet.

This song is dedicated to my grandma

because next week is her birthday

(Laughter)

(Applause)

(Music)

(Applause)

I will now need four volunteers.

Here and now we are
going to hear their sound.

Let's see, the four guys over there.

(Laughter)

(Applause)

Pick this one.

You pick that one.

Let's hear what instrument you sound like.

(Noise)

Wow! you sound like a noise!

(Battery dish)

You sound like battery dishes

You have no sound.

(Laughter)

(Drum roll)

You sound like a drum.

And you, let's see what do you sound like.

(Neighing)

Oh we have a horse!!

(Laughter)

(Applause)

I hope you enjoyed what I brought to you.

See how I was not fooling you?

You can imagine, create and share

just with some cables,
a bit of imagination and a computer.

Try it out kids! Stop just being gamers,

and become creators of stories,
game programs and musical projects.

Our imagination is the limit.

But go beyond!

Show it to the world, upload it
to the web for others to see,

and more people can play,

but knowing that we as kids,

can decide too how
we want things done.

And I ask all the parents
that please help us put together

programming workshops
at schools so every kid can learn this.

It is important for your kids.

(Applause)

Never forget that nothing is impossible,

It's all up to our effort and
desire of self-improvement,

even if we are young,
we have a lot to teach in return.

Thank you so much for your attention,
see you soon.

(Applause)