[Edu-sig] re: modeling

[Arthur Siegel]

Ludger writes -

>But this is not quite right.
>We should teach informatics to the beginner,
>so - everyone gets a "right" mental model of working with a computer
>(special with a GUI),
>(s|he) is teached to get a clear understanding of whats going on and
>*how* this can be expressed
>*instead of*
>click here and click there and acitvate this button and scroll this area

etc.

Not fully following your suggestion.

What I think I like is the concept of modelling to demonstrate how the
GUI - whatever it happens to be - fits in to what is happening 'behind
the scenes'.

Particularly necessary if one is teaching on a Windows/MAC platform.

My own enthusiasm for Informatics would have never developed had
not the availability of Linux brought me behind the scenes, and beyond
the control of a particular GUI.

What I would not like is making GUI concerns - beyond
their de-mystification/ deconstruction - too central, too early on.

GUI is a later stage development of the Informatics discipline and IMO a
later
stage pedagogical concern.

ART