Hi all We had a discussion regarding this at PPIG 2007 in Joensuu. In my opinion there is too much emphasis on Lego Mindstorms and introducing kids to programming using robots. I was at a meeting once where someone professed that if you aren't interested in Mindstorms or robots you won't be interested in programming, now there was an open mind! Why don't we introduce kids to stuff outside of lego and robots e.g. using mobile phone metaphors (things a large number of them are all into, in Ireland anyway) - moving cursor around the screen or predictive texting or a sports metaphor of moving a football player from the corner flag to the centre circle. We seem to persist with robots and lego ad nauseam without wondering if there is anything else out there that can get the basics of programming across to children. Describing something that worked for me is fine, but assuming it's going to work for others or it's the only way it can work for others is not. I have no doubt that lego and robots will work very well for a good number of children but shouldn't we begin to experiment with other things. I have looked at a lot of research material in novice programming and the same stuff appears again and again. Isn't it time we tried something new? Why don't we examine this on an inductive basis where we ask students what they are interested in and let these interests form the basis for programming metaphors.
Regards Enda Dr. Enda Dunican Lecturer in Computing, Dept. of Computing and Networking, Institute of Technology Carlow, Kilkenny Road, Carlow, Ireland. (Tel: 1-353-(0)59-9170508 + Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- PPIG Discuss List (discuss@ppig.org) 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/
