[Edu-sig] CS teaching approaches

[Andy Judkis]

>
>> 2) Talk about the history.  Show them some really old computers.  Talk about
>> the Analytical Engine. Make sure they know what Moore's Law is.
>>     
>
> Yes, and make sure you include Ada and Grace Hopper.  Computer science
> is about women, and men.
>   
I definitely stress Ada's contributions -- I talk about her when we go 
over the analytical engine, and then come back to her when we do 
programming.  Hopper, not so much -- obviously she was a very important 
contributor but I think a lot of girls would find her off-putting -- she 
kind of confirms some of the stereotypes that we're trying to get past. 
I'm not confident about this, it's just my gut feel, and I'd love to 
hear some other opinions.

I have a unit where I give each kid some computer-oriented person to 
learn about and report on to the class, and I try hard to find hip 
and/or unique personalities, or fascinating life stories. I've got about 
20 that seem to fit the bill pretty well (Lynn Conway is probably the 
ultimate in fascinating biographies -- but I also give them John Perry 
Barlow, Jared Lanier, Alan Kay, Jack Tramiel, Nolan Bushnell, John Von 
Neumann. . . ), but would love suggestions for others, especially more 
women.
> I think the history of computers needs to come through AdaBabbage,
> then Turing and Bletchley Park.  You need to explain about Enigma and
> all that, why there was suddenly such an impetus to make digital
> computers real, not just talk about them.
The best friendly treatment of all this that I've found is The Cartoon 
Guide to the Computer by Larry Gonick.  Boy, would I like to see that 
updated and re-released.

>> 3) Show them some things about operating systems (the task manager, a DOS
>> command window) and talk about viruses, worms, zombies, botnets, cyberwar. .
>> . stuff like that
>>     
>
> Yes, offer practical advice about how to stay safe and play safe.
> Encourage high ethics.
>   
Not just that, but it helps them understand stuff that's in the news.  
They start to notice more of what's going on.

>> 6) Have them do some simple web pages by writing HTML tags with a text
>> editor.
>>     
> Yes, excellent, and talk about CSS too.  I love that web site we all
> know about probably, where you just reload the same HTML with skin
> after skin (defined separately in the CSS).
>   
I guess you mean www.csszengarden.com?  I show that after introducing 
style sheets, and it blows their minds.
> The How Things Work component is what's really important a lot of the
> time, and it's not just the personal computer on your desk that's
> important to comprehend.  We need to explain about larger systems,
> institutions, in which computers play a role.  This includes
> explaining about social networking software, not making kids simply
> guess or imagine what's going on behind the scenes.
>   
Agreed.  I think that familiarity with this stuff at some basic level is 
important for all citizens, not just future tech geeks.

Which kind of brings it back to Roberto's original post -- what should 
you teach in a middle school CS class?  I wouldn't focus on formal 
programming at all -- at that age, I suspect that very few kids will 
find it compelling.  I'd point to 
http://csta.acm.org/Curriculum/sub/ACMK12CSModel.html and also 
http://csunplugged.org/ for more ideas.

Thanks,
Andy