Teach teens computing: Programming in Python

Course description

With the help of the Raspberry Pi Foundation, this course will guide you through basic programming concepts and teach you how to write Python programs that respond to a user's input, perform calculations, and solve problems.

Across four modules you'll work on creating your own text-based adventure game. As you become more confident with your programming, you'll progress to making more of your own choices about how to meet a design brief.

You'll also encounter other specific pedagogical approaches that you can use to help learners build their coding skills and understanding, such as the Predict–Run–Investigate–Modify–Make (PRIMM) approach. You'll also learn how to tackle everything from the overall programming task to how to work on specific lines of code.

This course would suit educators who have little to no experience of programming in Python.

What you will learn

After completing these four modules, you will be able to:

• Explore basic programming concepts such as sequencing and repetition

• Identify use cases for 'for' and 'while' loops, 'if' statements, and functions

• Apply your knowledge of basic Python syntax to interpret error messages

• Produce a text-based adventure game

What you will need

You will need either:

• A modern web browser and an internet connection to access the Raspberry Pi Foundation’s Code Editor

• To install an offline Python integrated development environment such as Thonny