Re: [seul-edu] programming courses for 6 th grades

[Michael Hall <admin@mulga.com.au>]

G'day All:

I know it is not really programming in the true sense perhaps, but I've
had some success teaching HTML to 6th graders. It isn't heavy duty
programming but it is certainly a great deal more useful skill to have 
than Logo programming will ever be, and is probably as good a start to
tinkering with computers as anything else.

Following that, I believe that basic bash programming could be made simple
enough and interesting enough for 6th graders, though this is an untested
belief to date. But again, it is a real skill with real applications,
unlike Logo. Indeed, if Linux does become increasingly ubiquitous, bash
programming will become an increasingly useful skill.

I think that time and resources are so scarce in schools these days that
we need to try and ensure that whatever we're teaching has some relevance
to and use in the real world.

Mick

***********************************************
Michael Hall - mick@mulga.com.au - mulga.com.au
  The Alice Interactive - www.thealice.com.au
***********************************************


On Mon, 11 Jun 2001, Les Richardson wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Yes, but we want it to be a success for ALL students..(to some degree). 
> You were successful. Many may not be. For the teacher, it's a matter of
> judgement as to what will work with her/his particular group.
> 
> Les
> 
> 
> 
> > I disagree.  I learned Basic and Logo when I was in 6th grade (and that
> > was in 1986).  Basic was a little bit harder, but much more engaging
> > (part of Basic's advantage was that it really solidified the basic human
> > communication aspect of 'thinking in language').
> > 
> > z
> > 
> > Les Richardson wrote:
> > > 
> > > I would suggest a more graphics oriented language like Logo, and deal only
> > > with very limited control structures, perhaps focussing more on the Turtle
> > > Graphics aspect, and less of the list processing capabilities. We don't
> > > want to turn this into an intelligence test.....
> > > 
> > > I would suggest that this would be very difficult for many 6th graders, and
> > > might be more useful at a Gr. 8 -10 Level.
> > > 
> > > Les Richardson
> > > H. Hardcastle School
> > > Edam, Sk. Canada
> > > 
> > > At 09:08 PM 5/12/01 +0300, you wrote:
> > > >hi,
> > > >
> > > >we are planning to give programming courses to the 6th grades and start by
> > > >BASIC or Pascal. does anybody have an experience to share with us? do you
> > > >have any lesson plans about programming courses to the young pupils?
> > > >
> > > >thanx
> > > >
> > > >
> > 
> > -- 
> > Joseph Estevao Arruda	|	www.valinux.com	
> > Corporate Alchemist	|	www.sourceforge.net	
> > VA Linux Systems	|	www.linux.com
> > z at valinux dot com	| 	www.enlightenment.org
> > +1.510.683.6730		|	www.osdn.com
> > 
> 
>