On Thu, 3 Nov 2005, Amit Aronovitch wrote: > Guy, I've read the first lesson slides, and I must say this is very good :-) > The best of all is the "human computing" demos.
thanks. i'm glad i finally managed to do something you actually aprove of whole heartedly ;) > As I explained in the wiki, I've been worried that it might become a > long, boring, slideshowing session (due to lack of practical exercises). > The two little demos fully answer that, and are much better than my > ideas for solving this problem. I take off my hat (no - I didn't promise > to eat it or anything, just appreciating a good idea), and will update > the wiki sometime soon. like i was saying - i don't think a wiki is a convinient place to hold discussions. by the wa, take it from me - hats are not tasty, not at all... > To make myself useful, I'll add some comments. you made yourself useful until this paragraph. this is where you give me more work to do - which makes you un-useful :P~~ how about, instead, taking upon yourself the writing of the slides for other mini-lectures, in the same style? i'll send you the program i use (which i "stole" from [EMAIL PROTECTED]) so all lecture slides will have the same format (even if not necessarily the same spirit)? > * The slides cover material from point 3 and on in the plan > (python-for-school.html). Point 1 seems straightforward, but point 2 > (about free software) seems to contain issues that trigger long essays > and discussions on the net. point 2 can be explained in 1 minute, 5minutes, 1 hours, a full day, a complete course or an entire lifetime. as you see, i chose the 10-minutes method. i'll probably use a shorter version of http://nadav.harel.org.il/essays/chofesh/lecture.html - after adopting it to high-school kids, and for my taste. as such, i'm going o talk - not show slides. > I'm sure the subject is important, and that > you'll make it short, informative and representative. However,it would > be nice if you put a few words about it in first slide (some people will > be curious about what you said,and some extra propaganda for the cause > can't hurt). i'll think about it.... ok, i thought about it. no. i'll leave the slides to talk about programming. the free software stuff will be a monologue... this is a very personal issue, after all. > * Do you have some ideas for self reading/self exercising for the week > between the first and second lesson? Maybe some pen & paper experiments, > extending the "robot" demo? i didn't think about it - i'm not sure how many of the kids will actually want to do "homework" in this course - many of them area already pre-occupied with school and other afternoon activities - so adding homework is not something i'd want to do - at least not until i get the impression that they want this. the only thing i'll do is tell them about how to install python on their home computers (ActivePython from www.activestate.com) - i'll see how many instaleld it after 2 weeks, and it'll give me an impression of whether homework is a good thing or not. mind you - i don't even know how many of them have good computers at home anyway... [... example snipped - it is far far far too advanced for people hwo've never thought of a program. don't know about you, but i remember how i felt when i learned programming for the first time - i had a problem writing a simple program to solve the "twice the rice on each chessboard square" problem :0 and you're talking about implementing algorithms of this length in pseudo-code? not to mention, having to solve a maze with pen and paper? i'm trying to attract them - not to push them away ;) > * nodes 7-13 describe elements of computer language. The problem is that > some of them describe complex concepts (at least they seam complex to > me), the concepts are not complex. the explanations often given are complex. did you see the salad exersize in the learning program, in the lesson about objects? that's the kind of explanatoin i'm aming for. > which are not demonstrated in this lesson, and will only be > encountered (if at all) far later in this course's plan. why not demonstrated? demonstrating doesn't mean "showing a python program". the can be given analogues from other areas (didn't i do that in the slides? if not - i'll add some). the idea here is to give them a more thorough understanding of the tools we'll learn during the year. they don't have to fully understand everything - just get familiar with part of the vocabulary. this way, when we get to actually teaching the stuff - it'll look less foreign, less intimidating. also, when you teach the same thing 2 or 3 times - it sinks better. > These will be > probably forgotten by the time they get to them, so I'm not sure about > the effectiveness of these nodes (also, as you might guess, I'm > uncomfortable about node8 - variables). i'll consider using http://www.effbot.org/zone/python-objects.htm to modify the variables slide. however! since this intro is not python-specific, i'm not sure i could do it here. perhaps i should do it on the meeting in which we talk about variables (the 3rd meeting). > I guess I'll have to come up > with more detailed explanation of this point and/or alternative > suggestion... no, you won't. the above page is good enough - and again, you keep thinking about python as a goal - my goal is not to make it hard for the kids to later adapt to other languages - like it was for me, switcing from pascal/C (procedural) to C++ (OO). > * node5 (how programmers think), first point: programmers, despite what > many of them think, *are* regular human beings. I'm sure that was a > joke, but I suggest to avoid it and use "other" people instead of > "regular" people - some people who did not attend the lecture might read > your slide and interpret it some other way (people can misinterpret > anything). i don't realy care what "some people with no sence of humor or sense of self-humor think". i'm not going to change this. > * typos: > () node 4, first point: "milot mafteah" > () node 10, second point: the closing parenthesis appears reverse (at > least on my firefox). > () node 15, fifth point: "shelet" instead of "kelet" fixed those (and another one found along the way, and added 1-2 new bullets). -- guy "For world domination - press 1, or dial 0, and please hold, for the creator." -- nob o. dy
