When I watch my niece gleefully play with sand, dirt, and water, I love it because she is as engaged or even more focused then when she is watching some Nick Jr. show.
I think the new Google tools are an important first step from pre-teens mindlessly playing/texting with their mobile devices (consuming) to making something, even if it is a toy app (producing). And maybe they'll get a bit of the ego boost that comes from making something other people like/want. Maybe it will become cool to make your own little apps. Imagine if Seventeen magazine had a monthly contest for best app. This could be more than a technological shift, this could be a shifting of cultural attitudes towards programming / IT at the subsurface, tectonic level.
As for teaching logic, I think it really comes down to how the person is wired internally. Some people just think that way.
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When I watch my niece gleefully play with sand, dirt, and water, I love it because she is as engaged or even more focused then when she is watching some Nick Jr. show.
I think the new Google tools are an important first step from pre-teens mindlessly playing/texting with their mobile devices (consuming) to making something, even if it is a toy app (producing). And maybe they'll get a bit of the ego boost that comes from making something other people like/want. Maybe it will become cool to make your own little apps. Imagine if Seventeen magazine had a monthly contest for best app. This could be more than a technological shift, this could be a shifting of cultural attitudes towards programming / IT at the subsurface, tectonic level.
As for teaching logic, I think it really comes down to how the person is wired internally. Some people just think that way.