I agree with Michael's opinion of each of the three purposes listed below. I think though, that there is at least a fourth purpose for teaching programming in schools - constructionist learning. We're using Lego Robotics languages, Microworlds Logo, and a number of multi-agent modeling languages specifically designed for K-12 (Starlogo, Stagecast Creator, Agentsheets) to help students bring a variety of their subjects "to life". Specifically, programming in Starlogo is more of a modeling exercise than traditional programming exercise. It all seems to depend on the environment that a programming language is embedded in and the manipulatives available in that environment.
Larry Latour Michael Toomim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: >On Sep 14, 2004, at 12:33 AM, Jan Erik Mostr�m wrote: > >> On 2004-09-14 08.54, ColliverMJ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >>> Do you feel programming should be taught to children in some way >>> whilst they are at school ? >> >> I think the question should be "What would the purpose be?" > >I've heard three such purposes: > >1) For students to learn how to program >2) To give students the aesthetic experience of going "inside" >technology, rather than just using it (c.f. "Beyond Black Boxes" >http://llk.media.mit.edu/papers/archive/bbb/) >3) To teach a set of general transferrable skills; for example, a >student might be better at debugging a toaster or logically analyzing a >mathematics problem if they have developed strong programming skills > >A brief opinion for each of these: > >1) Most people don't need to learn how to program >2) How low [in terms of levels of abstraction] do you go? >3) Education theory has been debating the validity of trying to teach >generally transferrable skills for at least a century. I don't know of >any specific results for the ability of programming skills to transfer >to other aspects of life, but it seems that making a rigorous argument >for it would be difficult. > >---------------------------------------------------------------------- >PPIG Discuss List ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) >Discuss admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss >Announce admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/announce >PPIG Discuss archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/ > ------------------------------------------- Larry Latour Associate Professor of Computer Science University of Maine Tel: 207 581 3523, Fax: 207 581 4977 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PPIG Discuss List ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Discuss admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/discuss Announce admin: http://limitlessmail.net/mailman/listinfo/announce PPIG Discuss archive: http://www.mail-archive.com/discuss%40ppig.org/
