Let's teach kids to code
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0:01 - 0:04It was a Saturday afternoon in May,
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0:04 - 0:06and I suddenly realized
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0:06 - 0:10that the next day was Mother's Day,
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0:10 - 0:12and I hadn't gotten anything for my mom,
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0:12 - 0:13so I started thinking about
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0:13 - 0:15what should I get my mom for Mother's Day?
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0:15 - 0:17I thought, why don't I make her
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0:17 - 0:20an interactive Mother's Day card
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0:20 - 0:23using the Scratch software that I'd been developing
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0:23 - 0:27with my research group at the MIT Media Lab?
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0:27 - 0:30We developed it so that people could easily create
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0:30 - 0:34their own interactive stories and games and animations,
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0:34 - 0:38and then share their creations with one another.
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0:38 - 0:42So I thought, this would be an opportunity to use Scratch
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0:42 - 0:45to make an interactive card for my mom.
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0:45 - 0:47Before making my own Mother's Day card,
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0:47 - 0:49I thought I would take a look
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0:49 - 0:51at the Scratch website.
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0:51 - 0:54So over the last several years, kids around the world
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0:54 - 0:57ages 8 and up, have shared their projects,
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0:57 - 1:01and I thought, I wonder if, of those three million projects,
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1:01 - 1:04whether anyone else has thought to put up Mother's Day cards.
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1:04 - 1:07So in the search box I typed in
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1:07 - 1:09"Mother's Day,"
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1:09 - 1:12and I was surprised and delighted to see a list
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1:12 - 1:14of dozens and dozens of Mother's Day cards
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1:14 - 1:17that showed up on the Scratch website,
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1:17 - 1:19many of them just in the past 24 hours
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1:19 - 1:22by procrastinators just like myself.
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1:22 - 1:25So I started taking a look at them. (Music)
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1:25 - 1:28I saw one of them that featured a kitten
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1:28 - 1:35and her mom and wishing her mom a happy Mother's Day.
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1:35 - 1:37And the creator very considerately
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1:37 - 1:41offered a replay for her mom.
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1:41 - 1:43Another one was an interactive project where,
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1:43 - 1:46when you moved the mouse over the letters of "Happy Mom Day,"
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1:46 - 1:51it reveals a special happy Mother's Day slogan.
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1:51 - 1:55(Music) In this one, the creator told a narrative
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1:55 - 1:58about how she had Googled to find out
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1:58 - 2:01when Mother's Day was happening.
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2:01 - 2:05(Typing) And then once she found out when Mother's Day was happening,
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2:05 - 2:08she delivered a special Mother's Day greeting
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2:08 - 2:11of how much she loved her mom.
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2:11 - 2:14So I really enjoyed looking at these projects
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2:14 - 2:15and interacting with these projects.
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2:15 - 2:19In fact, I liked it so much that, instead of making my own project,
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2:19 - 2:24I sent my mom links to about a dozen of these projects. (Laughter)
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2:24 - 2:27And actually, she reacted exactly the way that I hoped that she would.
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2:27 - 2:29She wrote back to me and she said,
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2:29 - 2:32"I'm so proud to have a son that created the software
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2:32 - 2:36that allowed these kids to make Mother's Day cards for their mothers."
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2:36 - 2:40So my mom was happy, and that made me happy,
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2:40 - 2:45but actually I was even happier for another reason.
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2:45 - 2:49I was happy because these kids were using Scratch
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2:49 - 2:51just in the way that we had hoped that they would.
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2:51 - 2:54As they created their interactive Mother's Day cards,
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2:54 - 2:56you could see that they were really
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2:56 - 3:00becoming fluent with new technologies.
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3:00 - 3:01What do I mean by fluent?
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3:01 - 3:05I mean that they were able to start expressing themselves
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3:05 - 3:08and to start expressing their ideas.
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3:08 - 3:11When you become fluent with language,
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3:11 - 3:14it means you can write an entry in your journal
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3:14 - 3:18or tell a joke to someone or write a letter to a friend.
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3:18 - 3:21And it's similar with new technologies.
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3:21 - 3:26By writing, be creating these interactive Mother's Day cards,
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3:26 - 3:28these kids were showing that they were really fluent
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3:28 - 3:30with new technologies.
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3:30 - 3:33Now maybe you won't be so surprised by this,
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3:33 - 3:35because a lot of times people feel that
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3:35 - 3:39young people today can do all sorts of things with technology.
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3:39 - 3:43I mean, all of us have heard young people referred to as "digital natives."
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3:43 - 3:47But actually I'm sort of skeptical about this term.
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3:47 - 3:50I'm not so sure we should be thinking of young people as digital natives.
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3:50 - 3:53When you really look at it, how is it that young people
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3:53 - 3:57spend most of their time using new technologies?
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3:57 - 4:00You often see them in situations like this,
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4:00 - 4:02or like this,
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4:02 - 4:04and there's no doubt that young people
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4:04 - 4:07are very comfortable and familiar browsing
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4:07 - 4:12and chatting and texting and gaming.
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4:12 - 4:15But that doesn't really make you fluent.
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4:15 - 4:19So young people today have lots of experience
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4:19 - 4:23and lots of familiarity with interacting with new technologies,
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4:23 - 4:26but a lot less so of creating with new technologies
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4:26 - 4:29and expressing themselves with new technologies.
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4:29 - 4:31It's almost as if they can read
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4:31 - 4:35but not write with new technologies.
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4:35 - 4:39And I'm really interested in seeing, how can we help young people become fluent
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4:39 - 4:41so they can write with new technologies?
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4:41 - 4:44And that really means that they need to be able to
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4:44 - 4:49write their own computer programs, or code.
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4:49 - 4:52So, increasingly, people are starting to recognize
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4:52 - 4:55the importance of learning to code.
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4:55 - 4:58You know, in recent years, there have been
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4:58 - 5:00hundreds of new organizations and websites
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5:00 - 5:04that are helping young people learn to code.
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5:04 - 5:07You look online, you'll see places like Codecademy
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5:07 - 5:10and events like CoderDojo
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5:10 - 5:12and sites like Girls Who Code,
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5:12 - 5:14or Black Girls Code.
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5:14 - 5:17It seems that everybody is getting into the act.
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5:17 - 5:20You know, just at the beginning of this year,
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5:20 - 5:21at the turn of the new year,
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5:21 - 5:24New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg
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5:24 - 5:26made a New Year's resolution that he was going to learn
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5:26 - 5:29to code in 2012.
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5:29 - 5:32A few months later, the country of Estonia decided that
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5:32 - 5:35all of its first graders should learn to code.
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5:35 - 5:38And that triggered a debate in the U.K.
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5:38 - 5:43about whether all the children there should learn to code.
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5:43 - 5:45Now, for some of you, when you hear about this,
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5:45 - 5:49it might seem sort of strange about everybody learning to code.
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5:49 - 5:52When many people think of coding, they think of it
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5:52 - 5:56as something that only a very narrow sub-community
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5:56 - 5:58of people are going to be doing,
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5:58 - 6:01and they think of coding looking like this.
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6:01 - 6:03And in fact, if this is what coding is like,
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6:03 - 6:06it will only be a narrow sub-community of people
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6:06 - 6:09with special mathematical skills and technological background
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6:09 - 6:11that can code.
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6:11 - 6:14But coding doesn't have to be like this.
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6:14 - 6:18Let me show you about what it's like to code in Scratch.
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6:18 - 6:22So in Scratch, to code, you just snap blocks together.
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6:22 - 6:24In this case, you take a move block,
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6:24 - 6:26snap it into a stack,
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6:26 - 6:28and the stacks of blocks control the behaviors
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6:28 - 6:32of the different characters in your game or your story,
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6:32 - 6:34in this case controlling the big fish.
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6:34 - 6:38After you've created your program, you can click on "share,"
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6:38 - 6:41and then share your project with other people,
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6:41 - 6:43so that they can use the project
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6:43 - 6:46and start working on the project as well.
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6:46 - 6:49So, of course, making a fish game isn't the only thing
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6:49 - 6:51you can do with Scratch.
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6:51 - 6:53Of the millions of projects on the Scratch website,
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6:53 - 6:55there's everything from animated stories
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6:55 - 6:58to school science projects
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6:58 - 7:00to anime soap operas
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7:00 - 7:02to virtual construction kits
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7:02 - 7:05to recreations of classic video games
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7:05 - 7:07to political opinion polls
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7:07 - 7:10to trigonometry tutorials
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7:10 - 7:13to interactive artwork, and, yes,
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7:13 - 7:16interactive Mother's Day cards.
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7:16 - 7:19So I think there's so many different ways
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7:19 - 7:22that people can express themselves using this,
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7:22 - 7:25to be able to take their ideas and share their ideas with the world.
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7:25 - 7:28And it doesn't just stay on the screen.
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7:28 - 7:32You can also code to interact with the physical world around you.
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7:32 - 7:34Here's an example from Hong Kong,
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7:34 - 7:36where some kids made a game
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7:36 - 7:39and then built their own physical interface device
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7:39 - 7:42and had a light sensor, so the light sensor
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7:42 - 7:44detects the hole in the board,
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7:44 - 7:46so as they move the physical saw,
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7:46 - 7:48the light sensor detects the hole
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7:48 - 7:51and controls the virtual saw on the screen
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7:51 - 7:54and saws down the tree.
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7:54 - 7:56We're going to continue to look at new ways
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7:56 - 7:59of bringing together the physical world and the virtual world
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7:59 - 8:02and connecting to the world around us.
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8:02 - 8:04This is an example from a new version of Scratch
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8:04 - 8:08that we'll be releasing in the next few months,
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8:08 - 8:10and we're looking again to be able
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8:10 - 8:12to push you in new directions.
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8:12 - 8:14Here's an example.
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8:14 - 8:18It uses the webcam.
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8:18 - 8:23And as I move my hand, I can pop the balloons
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8:23 - 8:26or I can move the bug.
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8:26 - 8:28So it's a little bit like Microsoft Kinect,
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8:28 - 8:31where you interact with gestures in the world.
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8:31 - 8:33But instead of just playing someone else's game,
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8:33 - 8:35you get to create the games,
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8:35 - 8:37and if you see someone else's game,
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8:37 - 8:39you can just say "see inside,"
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8:39 - 8:42and you can look at the stacks of blocks that control it.
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8:42 - 8:46So there's a new block that says how much video motion there is,
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8:46 - 8:49and then, if there's so much video motion,
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8:49 - 8:52it will then tell the balloon to pop.
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8:52 - 8:55The same way that this uses the camera
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8:55 - 8:57to get information into Scratch,
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8:57 - 9:00you can also use the microphone.
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9:00 - 9:04Here's an example of a project using the microphone.
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9:04 - 9:07So I'm going to let all of you control this game
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9:07 - 9:09using your voices.
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9:09 - 9:25(Crickets chirping) (Shouts) (Chomping)
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9:25 - 9:34(Laughter)
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9:34 - 9:43(Applause)
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9:43 - 9:45As kids are creating projects like this,
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9:45 - 9:48they're learning to code,
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9:48 - 9:52but even more importantly, they're coding to learn.
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9:52 - 9:54Because as they learn to code,
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9:54 - 9:57it enables them to learn many other things,
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9:57 - 10:00opens up many new opportunities for learning.
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10:00 - 10:04Again, it's useful to make an analogy to reading and writing.
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10:04 - 10:07When you learn to read and write, it opens up
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10:07 - 10:10opportunities for you to learn so many other things.
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10:10 - 10:14When you learn to read, you can then read to learn.
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10:14 - 10:16And it's the same thing with coding.
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10:16 - 10:19If you learn to code, you can code to learn.
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10:19 - 10:22Now some of the things you can learn are sort of obvious.
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10:22 - 10:24You learn more about how computers work.
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10:24 - 10:26But that's just where it starts.
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10:26 - 10:29When you learn to code, it opens up for you to learn
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10:29 - 10:31many other things.
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10:31 - 10:34Let me show you an example.
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10:34 - 10:36Here's another project,
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10:36 - 10:38and I saw this when I was visiting
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10:38 - 10:40one of the computer clubhouses.
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10:40 - 10:43These are after-school learning centers that we helped start
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10:43 - 10:46that help young people from low-income communities
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10:46 - 10:50learn to express themselves creatively with new technologies.
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10:50 - 10:53And when I went to one of the clubhouses a couple years ago,
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10:53 - 10:57I saw a 13-year-old boy who was using our Scratch software
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10:57 - 10:59to create a game somewhat like this one,
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10:59 - 11:02and he was very happy with his game and proud of his game,
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11:02 - 11:05but also he wanted to do more.
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11:05 - 11:08He wanted to keep score.
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11:08 - 11:11So this was a game where the big fish eats the little fish,
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11:11 - 11:14but he wanted to keep score, so that each time
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11:14 - 11:17the big fish eats the little fish,
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11:17 - 11:20the score would go up and it would keep track,
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11:20 - 11:22and he didn't know how to do that.
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11:22 - 11:24So I showed him.
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11:24 - 11:28In Scratch, you can create something called a variable.
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11:28 - 11:32I'll call it score.
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11:32 - 11:35And that creates some new blocks for you,
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11:35 - 11:40and also creates a little scoreboard that keeps track of the score,
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11:40 - 11:45so each time I click on "change score," it increments the score.
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11:45 - 11:47So I showed this to the clubhouse member --
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11:47 - 11:50let's call him Victor -- and Victor,
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11:50 - 11:53when he saw that this block would let him increment the score,
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11:53 - 11:55he knew exactly what to do.
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11:55 - 11:57He took the block
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11:57 - 12:00and he put it into the program
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12:00 - 12:04exactly where the big fish eats the little fish.
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12:04 - 12:09So then, each time the big fish eats the little fish,
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12:09 - 12:15he will increment the score, and the score will go up by one.
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12:15 - 12:17And it's in fact working.
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12:17 - 12:19And he saw this, and he was so excited,
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12:19 - 12:21he reached his hand out to me,
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12:21 - 12:23and he said, "Thank you, thank you, thank you."
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12:23 - 12:26And what went through my mind was,
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12:26 - 12:29how often is it that teachers are thanked by their students
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12:29 - 12:32for teaching them variables? (Laughter)
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12:32 - 12:34It doesn't happen in most classrooms,
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12:34 - 12:37but that's because in most classrooms, when kids learn about variables,
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12:37 - 12:40they don't know why they're learning it.
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12:40 - 12:43It's nothing that, really, they can make use of.
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12:43 - 12:45When you learn ideas like this in Scratch,
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12:45 - 12:49you can learn it in a way that's really meaningful and motivating for you,
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12:49 - 12:52that you can understand the reason for learning variables,
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12:52 - 12:54and we see that kids learn it more deeply
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12:54 - 12:55and learn it better.
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12:55 - 12:59Victor had, I'm sure, been taught about variables in schools,
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12:59 - 13:01but he really didn't -- he wasn't paying attention.
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13:01 - 13:03Now he had a reason for learning variables.
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13:03 - 13:06So when you learn through coding, and coding to learn,
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13:06 - 13:11you're learning it in a meaningful context, and that's the best way of learning things.
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13:11 - 13:14So as kids like Victor are creating projects like this,
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13:14 - 13:17they're learning important concepts like variables,
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13:17 - 13:19but that's just the start.
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13:19 - 13:23As Victor worked on this project and created the scripts,
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13:23 - 13:26he was also learning about the process of design,
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13:26 - 13:29how to start with the glimmer of an idea
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13:29 - 13:32and turn it into a fully-fledged, functioning project
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13:32 - 13:34like you see here.
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13:34 - 13:38So he was learning many different core principles of design,
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13:38 - 13:42about how to experiment with new ideas,
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13:42 - 13:46how to take complex ideas and break them down into simpler parts,
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13:46 - 13:49how to collaborate with other people on your projects,
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13:49 - 13:53about how to find and fix bugs when things go wrong,
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13:53 - 13:56how to keep persistent and to persevere
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13:56 - 13:59in the face of frustrations when things aren't working well.
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13:59 - 14:01Now those are important skills
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14:01 - 14:04that aren't just relevant for coding.
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14:04 - 14:07They're relevant for all sorts of different activities.
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14:07 - 14:10Now, who knows if Victor is going to grow up and become
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14:10 - 14:13a programmer or a professional computer scientist?
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14:13 - 14:15It's probably not so likely,
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14:15 - 14:16but regardless of what he does,
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14:16 - 14:20he'll be able to make use of these design skills that he learned.
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14:20 - 14:23Regardless of whether he grows up to be a marketing manager
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14:23 - 14:26or a mechanic or a community organizer,
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14:26 - 14:28that these ideas are useful for everybody.
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14:28 - 14:32Again, it's useful to think about this analogy with language.
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14:32 - 14:37When you become fluent with reading and writing,
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14:37 - 14:39it's not something that you're doing
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14:39 - 14:41just to become a professional writer.
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14:41 - 14:44Very few people become professional writers.
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14:44 - 14:47But it's useful for everybody to learn how to read and write.
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14:47 - 14:49Again, the same thing with coding.
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14:49 - 14:52Most people won't grow up to become professional
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14:52 - 14:55computer scientists or programmers,
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14:55 - 14:57but those skills of thinking creatively,
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14:57 - 15:00reasoning systematically, working collaboratively --
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15:00 - 15:02skills you develop when you code in Scratch --
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15:02 - 15:07are things that people can use no matter what they're doing in their work lives.
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15:07 - 15:10And it's not just about your work life.
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15:10 - 15:12Coding can also enable you to
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15:12 - 15:15express your ideas and feelings in your personal life.
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15:15 - 15:18Let me end with just one more example.
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15:18 - 15:21So this is an example that came from
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15:21 - 15:26after I had sent the Mother's Day cards to my mom,
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15:26 - 15:29she decided that she wanted to learn Scratch.
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15:29 - 15:32So she made this project for my birthday
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15:32 - 15:35and sent me a happy birthday Scratch card.
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15:35 - 15:39Now this project is not going to win any prizes for design,
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15:39 - 15:42and you can rest assured that my 83-year-old mom
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15:42 - 15:47is not training to become a professional programmer or computer scientist.
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15:47 - 15:50But working on this project enabled her
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15:50 - 15:52to make a connection to someone that she cares about
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15:52 - 15:55and enabled her to keep on learning new things
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15:55 - 15:57and continuing to practice her creativity
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15:57 - 16:01and developing new ways of expressing herself.
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16:01 - 16:05So as we take a look and we see that
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16:05 - 16:07Michael Bloomberg is learning to code,
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16:07 - 16:10all of the children of Estonia learn to code,
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16:10 - 16:12even my mom has learned to code,
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16:12 - 16:14don't you think it's about time that you might be
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16:14 - 16:16thinking about learning to code?
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16:16 - 16:18If you're interested in giving it a try,
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16:18 - 16:21I'd encourage you to go to the Scratch website.
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16:21 - 16:23It's scratch.mit.edu,
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16:23 - 16:24and give a try at coding.
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16:24 - 16:28Thanks very much. (Applause)
- Title:
- Let's teach kids to code
- Speaker:
- Mitch Resnick
- Description:
-
Coding isn’t just for computer whizzes, says Mitch Resnick of MIT Media Lab -- it’s for everyone. In a fun, demo-filled talk Resnick outlines the benefits of teaching kids to code, so they can do more than just “read” new technologies -- but also create them. (Filmed at TEDxBeaconStreet.)
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 16:48
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Let's teach kids to code | ||
Thu-Huong Ha approved English subtitles for Let's teach kids to code | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Let's teach kids to code | ||
Thu-Huong Ha edited English subtitles for Let's teach kids to code | ||
Morton Bast accepted English subtitles for Let's teach kids to code | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for Let's teach kids to code | ||
Joseph Geni added a translation |