Teaching programming to kids in situation of social vulnerability

Abstract

This article relates the experience of a training process on Teaching Programming for vulnerable children and adolescents at social risk, who attend community eaters in neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city of La Plata. In these organizations, in addition to breakfast and lunch, they are offered school attendance in different subjects using the computer as a tool. Since 2007, advanced student and teacher volunteers of the Faculty of Informatics of the National University of La Plata UNLP [1] traveled to social diners in order to introduce computing concepts to children and teenagers with limited economic resources, mainly supporting their activities in the school. They participate in the project called “Inclusive Computing” accepted in several calls for extension projects of the Ministry of Education of Argentina [2]. This project basically aims to strengthen links between the University and the slums through the teaching of Informatics. During the year 2016, 30 children from the Green Hope and Los Robles social institutions were trained in Programming [3]. In this article, we will address the details of the educational process, the methodology used, the pedagogical resources used and the results obtained. Although the lack of resources, the disparity of previous training of the students and the unfavorable context where they live, the results were highly satisfactory, with a high level of participation and interest. It was an enriching and gratified experience, worth being told.