Fwd: Re: [NCLUG] Looking at programming languages...

[Michael Riversong]

Maybe it would help to introduce a little pedagogy here, although it is not a subject familiar to most Americans.  By way of introduction, keep in mind that the educational system currently used in the USA is an incomplete system forged out of pieces of things that were not present in ancient and accepted educational systems.  That's part of the problem here, and why such an unrealistic concept as expecting 10 year old children to become good programmers can occur in the first place.

Beginning in ancient Greece, education was split into three levels.  Until about 1950 in the USA, this set of levels was the primarily accepted view of how learning takes place.

Grammar:  Memorizing rules and facts.  In computer terms, this would correspond to learning basic routines, gaining experience with software, typing, and learning the parts of a machine.

Logic:  At about the age of 12, abilities to evaluate and reason kick in.  At this stage, it's ok to teach concepts such as Boolean operators, especially if this is done with materials that children can actually handle.  If introduced properly, students will be able to use these reasoning tools for life.

Production:  For most students motor-brain coordination happens between 15 and 16.  It is at this point that students attain the ability to consistently produce useful projects.

How do i know any of this?  Worked as the computer teacher at a private school for 4 years.  Then, saw brain scans that absolutely validated the ancient system.

Had a few other experiences along the way.  Found that most students were agnostic about operating systems in the first place.  A few who were overly concerned about conformity were insistent on Windows.  For those under 12, computers were usually only as valuable as they helped get other things done.  A few would simply zone out into games and refuse to do anything else.  Very few would demonstrate affinity for computers from an early age.  These were the ones who tended to become programmers, but not always.

By the age of 12, most students were sick of computers and were only interested either in games or in things they weren't supposed to be doing.  So a Logic class was started that provided instruction in reasoning without the machines around.

Once they hit high school, those who were "destined" to become programmers sorted themselves out and managed to obtain whatever materials they preferred on their own, even though we had many languages and shells available.

Hope that helps in some way...

-----Original Message-----
>From: grant at amadensor.com
>Sent: Jan 16, 2008 1:38 PM
>To: nclug at nclug.org
>Subject: Fwd: Re: [NCLUG] Looking at programming languages...
>
>
>I intend to work with the very young (under 10) on this, and use a few
>test cases to flesh out a book on how to program for kids.   I started
>very young, and I think it is beneficial for kids to understand that
>unless they know how to program, they are just casting magical
>incantations, and do not really know what the machine is doing.   It
>is also important to realize that unless you can program, you do not
>own your machine or your data, you are just renting it.
>



Michael Riversong

Cheyenne, Wyoming

Beautiful Music for the Glory of God

http://home.earthlink.net/~mriversong