Russel Caldwell <[email protected]> writes:
> Let me ask you this. What do you think a teacher needs to do to encourage
> students to work on there own, especially in computer science? One young
> programmer who impressed me very much said that the teacher should encourage
> play which I totally agree with. He said that there is too much emphasis on
> creating trivial programs to teach concepts and that students should be
> allowed to work on and improve more complex programs. I think he gave
> Microsoft XNA Game Studio as an example. What freesoftware tools and
> resources would you recommend along these lines?
I don't think that trivial programs vs. complex programs is as big a
factor as hooking the interest of the students. An interested student
will work hard and learn well because they care about the subject; a
disinterested student will do just enough to get by, no matter what the
assignments are.
So, I think the real challenge for the teacher is to 'sell' the concepts
as fun and interesting, and then the trivial illustrative programs will
turn into gems to examine and then into a starting point for
self-directed exploration. This might be done by explaining how the
concept could be used in a complex system, or it could be relating it to
a game or contest, or any number of other things. Different people have
different interests, of course, so there's probably not a catch-all
technique that will hook everyone.
Another technique that caught my interest as a student was showing how
certain concepts could bring tasks that seemed hopelessly complex down
to an understandable and implementable level. A good explanation like
that almost always made me itch to implement it.
--Levi
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