[Edu-sig] Learning/Teaching Python

[Elizabeth Byers]

I'm a conservation activist and did a little Fortran programming 
in graduate school 20 years ago. My children are now interested 
in computers, and I would like to volunteer in their rural 
Appalachian school to help get something going in computer programming.

I have done a fair amount of asking around, and it seems as 
though Python might be an approachable, useful language for my 
purposes, and for the middle school audience I'd be targeting.

I need to learn it myself first, and I'm going to start with the 
tutorials on the Python web site.  I hope I can manage it!

I'm enjoying the discussion so far, and will be very interested 
to learn about the experience others have had in working with the 
public school system.  Any good arguments or convincing facts 
associating programming skills with success in school and life 
would be most welcome. I know it will be an uphill battle to 
convince teachers that it is worth the effort to try this, 
instead of just teaching word processing and MS Office.

I look forward to learning from all of you!

With best regards,
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Elizabeth Byers
The Mountain Institute
107 Westridge Drive
Elkins, WV 26241 USA
Email:  ebyers@mountain.org
Web:  http://www.mtnforum.org (Mountain Forum)
       http://www.mountain.org (The Mountain Institute)
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