Russell McOrmond wrote:
>
> On Tue, 11 Jun 2002, Manas Laha wrote:
>
> > Russell, could you give us some idea how computers and computing are
> > taught to schoolgoers of ages 13-17 in Canada?
Thanks for the information.
> Sounds like it is the same as was described of India.
That's strange. OTOH, perhaps not! We lifted our school computer
curriculum straight from the US (to which, I believe, the Canadian
curriculum is similar).
>
> There are different classes. Programming courses do exist, but are
> primarily tought on a Microsoft platform using Microsoft C or similar
> languages.
The platform is not the problem. How computers are taught is. I believe
the right way is to focus on the principles (e.g. "what are the
essential features of any data-base management system") and not on the
mechanics ("Click on the MS Access icon, choose `Wizard' ..."). Once
people get to have a clear idea of how computers work, they can make an
intelligent choice about the particular environment (proprietary or
open) and platform (e.g. Linux or FreeBSD) they wish to take to. But
that decision should be the individual's own.
>
> I believe I mentioned previously that I have done presentations both to
> highschool students <http://weblog.flora.ca/article.php3?story_id=129> and
> highschool teachers <http://weblog.flora.ca/article.php3?story_id=114> to
> try to educate them on some of the legal (copyright/etc) issues around
> Open Source software.
I visited both websites. I liked the questionnaire that was given to the
students. Its interesting that, on freedom of choice and free software,
Europe has the more progressive ideas than the US.
- Manas Laha
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