From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-1.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00,INVALID_MSGID autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 103376,71d1fdde81c072f8 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public From: Richard D Riehle Subject: Re: Computer Programming for Everybody? Date: 1999/09/13 Message-ID: <7rjceh$92t@dfw-ixnews15.ix.netcom.com>#1/1 X-Deja-AN: 524543351 References: <7rbkm4$pn6$1@nnrp1.deja.com> <7rikv9$ibg3@ftp.kvaerner.com> Organization: Netcom X-NETCOM-Date: Mon Sep 13 12:32:01 PM CDT 1999 X-Inktomi-Trace: sji-ca-cache 937243904 21906 207.92.173.112 (13 Sep 1999 17:31:44 GMT) Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada Date: 1999-09-13T12:32:01-05:00 List-Id: Regarding the teaching of computer programming to elementary school age children. In article <7rikv9$ibg3@ftp.kvaerner.com>, "Tarjei Jensen" wrote: >I think it is a hideously bad idea regardless of language employed. >I don't think anybody at that age need to learn to program. There are a lot >of other things that needs to be learnt and mastered. It would seem that we need perspective on what kind of problems we expect children to encounter and solve. We need to understand they are still chidren and "fun" is an important part of their education process. Young students can learn to feel comfortable with computers and software using some language that presents programming at the right level of abstraction. Logo, Python, or Scheme might be just the ticket for this kind of thing. Let the children learn through their playthings. A problem solving tool that encourages curiosity, inspires experimentation, and has the side-effect of being lots of fun is going to be more useful than a doctrinaire view of good software practice. Most children are smarter than we might think. The important thing is not the choice of language. Rather, it is that these young students learn something about problem solving with software abstraction. We all learn to "put away childish things" as we grow older and these students will adopt more sophisticated tools as they progress through their education. I am not convinced that Ada is appropriate at this level of learning. I am absolutely certain that languages such as C, C++, and Java are not suitable. Richard Riehle