Codecademy: Ruby

Ruby is an excellent programming language for beginners -- kids can pick it up in a flash with this Codecademy tutorial. The lessons don't expect students to have any prior coding background, so the course starts off slowly, teaching the basics without overwhelming. However, teachers may want to provide deeper background on Ruby, including example websites and apps, since very little of that kind of information is provided here. These may help motivate students as they go through the early -- less exciting -- lessons. Most students will be able to complete the course without much outside support. Occasionally, Codecademy tells students they're correct when they actually aren't, though, so teachers should stay involved and conduct assessments, even as students work on their own. Also, consider placing students in teams to create a larger Ruby project. Codecademy doesn't have any built-in collaborative coding opportunities other than its Q&A Forum, so you'll need to do this yourself.