I want to throw out one idea that worked great for me in my initial introduction to cs.
In our class our first programs generated simple postscript (ie - turtle graphics) which we then sent to a printer (well, ghostscript first, to save a few trees). By week two we were generating mandlebrot sets, and recursive artwork the week after. http://www.cs.princeton.edu/courses/archive/spr01/cs126/assignments/mandel.html best of both worlds? At least we got to making art quickly. Best, /Jonah Toby Donaldson wrote: > On 3/1/06, kirby urner <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> On 2/28/06, Toby Donaldson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >> >>> As I pointed out in my message, the reason we use turtle graphics is >>> to introduce the idea of functional decomposition and bottom-up >>> development. I have little interest in graphics, personally. >> >> Not sure what this means exactly, but I'm sure there're lots of ways to do >> this. >> >> def g:... >> def f:... >> def h:... >> h(g(f(x))) >> f(h(g(x))) >> h(h(g(f(h(g(x))))) >> >> whatever. > > I mean cutting up large problems into smaller ones according function, > and then creating the resulting program by first writing (and testing) > small functions, and then combining those to make larger functions. > > Your example shows the syntax of function calling, but the more > interesting question is how do you get h, g, and f in the first place? > >>> It worked very well for our students, and the fact that turtle >>> graphics is a toy is important: there's less anxiety playing with >> >> By "toy" I meant something more like "broken toy" -- thinking specifically >> of turtle.py on Windows. One could argue that it's Window's that's the >> broken toy in this picture. I'd probably smile and nod. > > Well, in this case, it's clearly turtle.py that's lacking. > >> I'm not >> anti-turtle and certainly not anti-Python. I tolerate Windows because I >> love .NET (so far anyway -- my goal is to be teaching IronPython someday >> soon, on Linux boxes as well). Maybe at some future SIGCSE (if they stop >> meeting in Texas -- I'm boycotting that state for the forseeable future, >> won't go to any events there (Texas has screwed up the Oregon electrical >> power scene big time, adding to my bill, messing with my quality of >> living)). >> >>> toys. I see many, many students who have zero experience with >>> programming in high school, and exhibit more anxiety in the >>> first-programming course than in a math course (which at they least >>> have a decade of experience with, even if they dislike the topic). >>> >>> Toby >> >> The Shuttleworth Foundation in South Africa is looking at Logo | Squeak | >> Python as a preferred pipeline. The curriculum is designed for >> self-teachers, home scholars, i.e. no cadre of "qualified teachers" need >> apply. In this model, we'll have gotten the turtle stuff out of the way (on >> a first pass anyway) with Logo. Python will be under no pressure to star as >> a turtle graphics platform (it's not known for this now and it's an uphill >> battle to win recognition for it in this niche). Kids coming into Python >> will already be highly familiar with turtle stuff, so we can allude to it >> (in the curriculum, maybe a Moodle -- I've pointed them to two of mine), but >> we don't introduce either programming or turtles using Python. > > Logo is a non-starter. For my purposes, a practical language is a > necessity, if only because some students need practical skills to get > programming jobs on co-op terms. Personally, I far prefer turtle > graphics in Python than Logo since Python is much more readable. > > I've suggested Squeak to a few people, and there's been close to zero > interest. It's not considered very practical, and the language syntax > is generally considered a major problem. I'd guess it is less of a > problem for complete novices, but it's just too esoteric and > impractical to be a contender. > >> I'm brainstorming towards the day when high schoolers with no previous >> programming experience will be the exception more than the rule. That's >> already the case here in Portland, in some schools anyway. I hope South >> Africa will get there shortly (you might think they have a long way to go, >> but actually South Africa is poised for a great leap forward, in the Chinese >> sense, but we hope without the same stumbling). > > That would be nice: "programming anxiety" is a bigger problem than > "math anxiety" at my campus. > > Toby > -- > Dr. Toby Donaldson > School of Computing Science > Simon Fraser University (Surrey) > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list [email protected] http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
