Precalculus (=trigonometry) is a corequisite for the course. It's an elective, meaning the students choose it because they want it. No previous programming experience is required.
I convinced the administration to delete AP Java Programming in favor of my J course, so this is the only programming class we offer (we have 530 students in grades 9-12). Many students at our school feel driven to take AP classes which they think will give them a better chance at a good college, so it is a Big Deal for them to take my class instead of, say, AP Statistics. I was happy to see 14 kids choose it. The name of the course is Programming For Scientists And Engineers, and in the description I bill the course as programming for people who need to write their own code that they will use for their own projects, rather than code that other people will run. Henry Rich On 12/17/2011 10:17 PM, Ric Sherlock wrote: > I can imagine this would be a really satisfying process& outcome for > both you and the students. > I'm interested in what the entry "requirements" were for the course. > Did the students choose to do the course? Was this an extention course > for students interested in maths/programming? > > On Sun, Dec 18, 2011 at 12:26 PM, Henry Rich<henryhr...@nc.rr.com> wrote: >> They started in mid-August. The top two students had done some >> programming before (the one who did all the tacit code started the year >> writing while. and if., so it was gratifying to see him cast that off). >> >> For the week before the exam, I gave them some preparatory problems, to >> plot the CDF of a different distribution etc. But I never expected so >> many to do so well. >> >> Henry Rich >> >> On 12/17/2011 5:52 PM, Björn Helgason wrote: >>> It is interesting to know how long you had been teaching them. >>> These assignments were not that easy to solve. >>> >>> 2011/12/17 Henry Rich<henryhr...@nc.rr.com> >>> >>>> Kids can learn J! >>>> >>>> I teach a highschool class in J, attended by 14 students. For my >>>> midterm this year I set 16 problems. I posted the exam on the Web 24 >>>> hours before it was due, with instructions that they could bring >>>> handwritten notes to class, where they would type in their solutions >>>> during the 2 hours of the exam. >>>> >>>> The median score was 7, with all but one student offering 5 correct >>>> answers. One student got 12 problems right and made a tiny error on a >>>> 13th. Amazingly, 2 students solved all 16. Astonishingly, one of those >>>> students provided tacit solutions for 13 of his 16 correct answers >>>> (tacit was awarded extra credit). >>>> >>>> The exam can be seen at >>>> >>>> >>>> http://www.raleighcharterhs.org/faculty/hrich/Courses/PSE/psemidterm2011.ijs >>>> >>>> and my suggested solutions at >>>> >>>> >>>> http://www.raleighcharterhs.org/faculty/hrich/Courses/PSE/psemidterm2011answers%20gffgh.ijs >>>> >>>> Readers of this space will note my use of the dice/toss thread. >>>> >>>> Henry Rich >>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >>>> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm >>>> >>> >>> >>> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- >> For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
