How America Can Get More Start-Up Talent

Build it right at home: Congress should encourage public schools to teach American children how to code just after they learn to multiply.

Read the full article in  How America Can Get More Start-Up Talent.

See slideshow from the latest OTA Robotics Tournament, Dec 10. OTA entered 3 teams…. and a more recent update from the 2014 Botball Tournament

Teaching every child to program a computer was a dream of the 1980s when the personal computer first entered the classroom. The dream quickly died out, however (buried under a flood of point-and-click “edu-tainment” software), and the computers ended up programming the children.

At OTA children program the computers; and it all starts with robots…

We not only teach every child in grades K-8 how to read music (their first symbolic language) and play piano, we also teach them to “write code” by teaching them to program Roamer Robots, Probot Racer Robots, and Lego Mindstorms robots.

• Kindergartners, 1st Graders, and 2nd Graders learn to program using Roamer Robot and Roamer World Simulator. New “Roamer Too” robots are on order thanks to a grant from Kiwanis Club of San Diego. Watch VIdeos of K-1 programmers.
• 3rd to 5th graders will start using the Probot “Racer” robot and Terrapin Logo Simulator in the second quarter thanks to a grant from Kiwanis Club of San Diego. Watch videos of 3rd-5th Programmers
• 6th-8th Graders learn to Program with Lego Mindstorms, writing code that will prepare them to write apps for the iPhone/Android or iPad. Watch Videos of SumoBot robotics Competition.