Ruby is probably good to get them started with programming in general. But the web is primarily defined by HTTP, HTML, CSS, and Javascript. These are the standard building blocks that every web dev should be familiar with. I realize that you probably can't cover those in a single class. Probably the most you could do is an overview of what parts they play.
One thing I like to do to demonstrate the web is go to some common website, open the developer console / element inspector, and add my own elements to it, style the element, add some click behavior (e.g. color change). People tend to be surprised by seeing their favorite websites manipulated so easily. But it paves the way for you to explain how your browser fetches and renders the website and that its just running on your machine and communicating back to the website's API. And to explain HTML, CSS, and JS in terms of how you changed the website (structure, style, and behavior).
On this note, a Chrome extension could be a fun project because so much of the underlying complexities are taken away, and it gives kids the potential to be pretty creative. Like "turn the whole internet pink" or something like that. Probably not the right first project, but it could definitely make kids feel like they're sort of "hacking" the web.
This "test group" I'll be starting with has allegedly some training in HTML+CSS, so yeah, I had totally forgotten to add those to the program. I think it'll be easier for them to be amazed to actually see some inmediate change on the things they'll be working on.
Thanks for the input!
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Ruby is probably good to get them started with programming in general. But the web is primarily defined by HTTP, HTML, CSS, and Javascript. These are the standard building blocks that every web dev should be familiar with. I realize that you probably can't cover those in a single class. Probably the most you could do is an overview of what parts they play.
One thing I like to do to demonstrate the web is go to some common website, open the developer console / element inspector, and add my own elements to it, style the element, add some click behavior (e.g. color change). People tend to be surprised by seeing their favorite websites manipulated so easily. But it paves the way for you to explain how your browser fetches and renders the website and that its just running on your machine and communicating back to the website's API. And to explain HTML, CSS, and JS in terms of how you changed the website (structure, style, and behavior).
On this note, a Chrome extension could be a fun project because so much of the underlying complexities are taken away, and it gives kids the potential to be pretty creative. Like "turn the whole internet pink" or something like that. Probably not the right first project, but it could definitely make kids feel like they're sort of "hacking" the web.
This "test group" I'll be starting with has allegedly some training in HTML+CSS, so yeah, I had totally forgotten to add those to the program. I think it'll be easier for them to be amazed to actually see some inmediate change on the things they'll be working on.
Thanks for the input!