[Edu-sig] a non-rhetorical question

[Ivan Krstić]

On Jul 6, 2007, at 2:29 PM, Andre Roberge wrote:
> Does anyone on this list (other than Vern) who has taught high school
> kids an intro to programming for just a few weeks can answer Andy's
> question?

I'm not a teacher, but perhaps you'll indulge a slight tangent. I  
have taught intro CS to 8th graders for a year in the late 90s, and  
more recently, some pretty hardcore CS during a 10-day course (http:// 
www.astro.hr/s3/2005/project4.php) for advanced high schoolers who  
didn't come in with a strong programming background. The former  
course used BASIC and a couple of more obscure languages, and the  
latter used a specialized dialect of C.

The two environments were almost incomparable, but I did walk away  
with one shared observation both times: trying to explain difficult  
CS concepts to kids without a proper math background is next to  
impossible. Both times, I eventually reverted to teaching the missing  
math before diving into the CS, and even during the CS bits liberally  
jumped into mathematical analogies to explain various concepts and  
approaches.

Some of my friends expressed unease with my happiness (comfort,  
really) to use mathematics as a tool for teaching CS, citing math's  
awful reputation as something that would get in the way.  
Unfortunately, there's a perverse and pervasive myth today that CS  
*isn't* math. Incoming CS freshmen at the better universities are  
quickly disillusioned about this; a non-trivial proportion of them  
picked CS as a major since they were "pretty good with computers in  
high school". For these folks, algorithms and Lisp tend to cause  
convulsive culture shock, and they often move to less demanding  
majors. Some schools have responded by introducing software  
engineering as a separate course of study.

Bottom line: terminology matters. I think it's impossible to teach CS  
to kids who are afraid of math. Teaching *programming* is something  
else entirely. I'd submit that what Andy can expect from his students  
depends largely on which of the two he's trying to teach.

Cheers,

--
Ivan Krstić <krstic at solarsail.hcs.harvard.edu> | GPG: 0x147C722D