China’s enthusiasm for teaching children to code is facing a new roadblock as organizations and students lose an essential tool: the Scratch programming language developed by the Lifelong ...

Do we need a new beginning programming language? My answer is “yes”, and the more programming languages and tools we have to introduce programming to kids, adults and everyone else, the better.

Patrice Gans, a technology teacher and library-media specialist in Connecticut, reviews Super Scratch Programming Adventure (No Starch Press, 2012).

Scratch Jr was inspired by the popular Scratch programming language for older kids. Developers say they redesigned the interface and programming language to make it appropriate for younger children.

Scratch is quite literally the only programming “game” my kids will use again and again, and it’s an amazing introduction for kids as young as pre-school age.

In a one-week camp, the youngest kids learn the fundamentals of Scratch, the coding language for kids created by developers at MIT.

Education guidelines for schools cover pilot programs to push ahead with classes focusing on major fields such as science, math, engineering and technology, including computer coding.