[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