Comment Re:Easy! (Score 1) 430
I agree completely with this. I use Lego Mindstorms with classes of 4th - 6th graders, and a lot of what I do is about breaking a problem up into a set of steps, and then writing instructions for each step.
It's amazing how much fun you can have with this, and how you can introduce concepts like ranges, variables and randomness by setting up an obstacle course that they have to run/walk through, and throw a big foam die (random number), or open a folder with a printed number inside (to represent a variable, that they tear out of the folder and carry with them to the function that the variable is used in as an argument - like do x star jumps, where x is the number).
If, else and while can be done in a similar manner: "If you're a boy, throw three red balls into basket A. If you're a girl, throw one ball of each colour into basket C" kind of thing.
You can then let some kids modify your initial obstacles, or come up with a completely new course, and then see how to write a set of instructions that will allow someone to complete the course. They can even save parts of this as reusable code pieces, if you plan your classes in the right way, which is a very powerful idea.
Of course I then move on to the lego robotics environment. But I think the point is to show the kids that computers do many simple processes very quickly, and that every activity can be broken up into a set of simple steps, which need to be followed in order to succeed.