[Edu-sig] More thoughts on CP4E (what it means to {Kirby})
Econoprof@aol.com
Econoprof@aol.com
Thu, 18 May 2000 22:10:44 EDT
Turn the telescope around the other way. (Sorry, this idea of amateurs not
being professionals has me thinking of the very formal relationship between
serious amateur astronomers and professionals. ) The reality of it is, the
grandkids are teaching the grandparents who WEREN'T techies, how to do things
like make web sites, fiddle the graphics, etc. THese are things the kids
have figured out how to do on their own.
The web has to serve as the missing techie grandma, as has already been
pointed out here by others, for kids who don't have someone around to show
them how to program. The professional programming world has pretty much
adopted the idea of one-on-one mentoring of beginners. Unfortunately, any
model of CP4E that relies on one-to-one skills transfers is setting itself up
for failure.
You could get a lot of people involved by having a volunteer in a local
public library at night even one or two nights a month to answer questions
that the parents or other involved adults can't answer. You have to
publicize it widely. Or have an online equivalent. The Educational
Program for Gifted Youth (EPGY) at Stanford has an online classroom that
works really well. That same model could work for teaching programming on a
one-to-many basis.
Joan