[Edu-sig] CP4E

[Jordan Johnson]

On Sunday, April 10, 2005, at 10:32  AM, Arthur wrote:
>> Now that computers have entered the picture, I see them as 
>> ubiquitous, and
>> important to start practicing on early.
>
> That's the standard line of thinking. I know it well. And reject it, 
> hook
> line and sinker.

When I attended the TeachScheme! workshop 
(http://www.teach-scheme.org/) last summer, our presenter started off 
by saying:  "How many of you have taken a class in telescope science?  
Anybody?  How about microscope science?  Have you done that?"

Point being, the computer is a tool, and it is absurd to spend time 
teaching only how to use a tool.  The utility of the computer is in 
making connections to tough concepts such as abstraction, patterns, and 
modeling.  And, even further, intelligence.

My guess is that those are the sorts of basic skills and concepts 
Kirby's referring to.  Regardless, they're the sort *I'm* referring to.

> What you are selling as "basic skills" for a 5th grader are not, in my
> experience, basic skills required of a professional programmer.  
> That's how
> far off we are from one another.

It's possible to be a professional programmer without truly getting 
some of the concepts I mentioned above.  Just not a decent one.

As for students (5th grade or otherwise): each one of those concepts 
feeds into the metacognitive abilities that help us make sense of new 
ideas.  I see that as a Good Thing.

Now, your choices of physical and conceptual artifacts to study--which 
ones (lungs, brain, internal combustion engine, traceroutes, loops, 
etc.), and how much of the role of each, are much harder to decide.  
I'm perhaps a little less inclined to agree with Hirsch and the like on 
notions of essential concepts for "cultural literacy", but I'd say it 
all has to be balanced between school/cultural expectations and 
teacher/student interests.  (As summarized by these questions: What do 
you have to teach?  What do you want to teach?  What will they enjoy 
learning, or how do you connect new material to what they know/enjoy?)

<tangent>
Some of my students have expressed an interest in learning about 
computer hardware.  Right at the moment I really don't want to teach 
about hardware, but I understand that they want to be able to find 
resources on putting together computers, so I'll probably prepare a 
one-week unit on the parts of the machine and how they're related to 
the programs the students have been using all year.  Perhaps in the 
spirit of simply introducing them to a possible avenue of work and 
study that many of them haven't seen before.
</tangent>

Idly blathering,
jmj

--
The most damaging phrase in the language is, "We've always done it that 
way."
		-- Admiral Grace Hopper