[Edu-sig] BBC NEWS UK Education GCSE 'gender gap' sparksconcern

[Jason Cunliffe]

> Can you expand on that a bit? Do you mean the kids came up with math
> problems that the teacher then had to solve? Or some other kind of problem?
> I'm trying to understand exactly how they became little algorithmic scripts
> because it does sound fascinating to me as well. Thanks.

Yes in the same session, first the teacher set the kids simple problems. Then
she said ok now its your turn. They went off, some together, some solo, to think
of a problem. After a time, she had them read out their problems and she would
try to solve them. Of course, they also had to tell her if she was correct.

I say 'algorithmic scripts' because you could see they were mostly following
variations of the type of problems she had set them. But the form, [the
algorithm], was an oral expression [story/puzzle], a public reading aloud
derived from the actual arithmetic/calculation [scripts]which they had written
on paper. You could see that at the same time they were thrilled by several
things:

1. role reversal

2. developing variations on the problems she had set them

3. thinking of original problems

4. thinking and/or describing problems in a worldly context.
Not just number problems, they related to objects, things/situations around
them, or which they chosen to imagine

5. story telling game - with a component/motivation to make it 'hard' or
'harder', because they wanted something more sophisticated, more complex that
perhaps  the expert [teacher] would not be able to solve. Some kids were less
confident of their own abilities and satisfied to just get it right. You could a
few timid, cautious ones who were not sure even of their own answer/problem,
while others were excited and motivated to push the limit. The timid ones were
satisfied when it was over to be confirmed that they had got it right [full
circle]. The brighter ones were trying to extend the pattern blocks of their
problem to make a more difficult one.

6.  faith
...in themselves, in their teacher, and in the reliability of the patterns [of
problems] and the math it was based on.

Even though the kids were young and the arithmetic problems simple, it was easy
to see how this process, if used widely, and combined with early computer
programming tools of any kind constitutes revolutionary and powerful approach. I
am not a teacher so perhaps I am getting excited about something normal today in
teaching practice.

It was so encouraging to witness the learning dynamics of this class and
extrapolate how this might develop broadly into new educational culture. Imagine
being a young child now entering this kind of schooling.

In some ways this is how I feel myself with computers, as I study all sorts of
interactive programming. The major component being the extraordinary resource
and culture of Internet sharing and teaching. The cycle in vibrant openSource
communities like Python and others, where we are all teachers and students, and
experience those roles and realizations in unfolding waves.
hope I am making sense here..

./Jason