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Date: 22 Feb 93 17:13:17 GMT
From: cis.ohio-state.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!usc!n
ews.cerf.net!nic.cerf.net!readingj@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU  (John D. Reading)
Subject: Questions about teaching programming to grade schoolers
Message-ID: <1mb1jeINN9o5@news.cerf.net>
List-Id: <comp.lang.ada>

I am considering starting a "programming club" at the grade school
that my children attend (the school has a computer lab which all the
kids attend once a week, but the emphasis is on educational games plus
a little word processing).  However, as soon as I contemplate this
seriously, I realize that I am primarily a programmer/engineer; NOT an
educator.  So I am hoping that some of you out there (especially
educators) would be willing to share some ideas with me about how to
run this.

There are a number of fundamental issues that need to be addressed,
some of which I have ideas on, others of which leave me completely
confused.  In no particular order:

Programming language: My first thought was Basic (since I started
there lo these many moons ago).  My second thought was that I should
turn them all into little C hackers like myself ;-).  After a little
more reflection I got thinking about Pascal, but Ada would be a
possibility, too.  Or maybe I should start them on Basic then move 
on to something else after a couple of weeks.  Any comments?

Hardware: This will certainly affect the first concern.  I would like
to use PC compatibles, since I have one at home, and I suspect many of
the students would, too.  The downside is that the school might be
able to get me 1 PC (and I have an old XT at home I could take in),
but that would leave me with just two machines for instructional
purposes at the school.  Alternatively I could use the Apple IIe's in
the school's computer lab (they have about 15 of them).  So I guess my
questions include - what software is available via
PD/shareware/publically available for the IIe?  I suspect I would have
essentially no budget for this project, so cheap (or free) is best.
Maybe some of you with more education experience than I can comment on
the feasibility of running a class with only two machines - that seems
almost impossible to me.

Age range:  I am considering including ages 3rd - 6th grade
(principally because I have a 3rd grader who would not want to be
excluded).  Size of the group is also a factor (I am thinking of 10 to
15), and I don't know what range of ages is manageable - when I have
volunteered in the computer lab previously I have always had one grade
at a time, and even there there is a vast range in abilities among the
students.

I am considering probably 1 hour 1 day a week right after school;
ideally with homework assignments for the kids to do on their own
time, although those couldn't be very demanding at all in this
situation - these kids already have plenty of homework.

Also, any suggestions on how to select the 10 to 15 (or however many)
in the group would be welcome.  Any scheme which would tend to exclude
my two daughters would probably be voted down by them :-)

I greatly appreciate any insights you would be willing to share with
me.  Please respond by email - if there is sufficient interest I
will post a summary, but it is much more straightforward for me to
collect the responses out of mail instead of collecting them out of
the various groups.

Thanks,

John Reading
readingj@cerf.net