Comment Re:Database Introduction (Score 1) 462
Thank you.
Introducing simple DB concepts in the 10th grade was on my mind as well, but I didn't know about the SQLite+Python part. This is useful!
Introducing simple DB concepts in the 10th grade was on my mind as well, but I didn't know about the SQLite+Python part. This is useful!
Since we have to teach "if", I guess we will have to teach elementary boolean logic as well.
Many of these points are already covered by the activities in the 8th standard textbook. We can probably integrate most of the rest of them in the next textbooks.
Thanks once again!
Mathematics can be thought of in two different aspects:
In the 9th and 10th grade math, (2) gets the priority, with occasional glimpses of (1) to spark the interest of the kid with an aptitude for math.
We would like our IT curriculum to take a similar approach as math in this respect.
Programming is essential. As a model language I would recommend an old BASIC with line numbers. This is close to how computers actually work, but still accessible enought for them. If you want to have an advanced course, teach Pascal.
I think that they chose Python in the 8th grade for its simplicity.
It is essential in our modern world that people, especially children, know how computers work and how to program them, in principle, at least.
The point is not to turn them into great programmers, but to give them a basic idea of how the things work.
I concur.
Most of what you learn there will be found out equally fast by the children themselves.
This has been observed to happen here as well, more or less without fail.
Personally, I think there are two directions you can go. First, you use a pre-CS syllabus where you teach programming basics like bits and bytes. Second way is that you can use a syllabus where you stress computers for non-CS people which might include the Internet, file systems, etc.
We are aiming for a mix of both.
By the way, are bits and bytes "programming basics" or "implementation detail"?
These are good candidates for inclusion. Thanks once again.
This is, as i mentioned in the post, a first generation of teachers and students in this subject. A main goal of this exercise is to come up with a curriculum that does not scare people away.
In the next iteration of this exercise (which will happen perhaps five years from now) we get to deal with a set of students and (more importantly) teachers who have "seen" these things for a few years and so are comfortable with the next level.
Thank you, but I'm afraid most of your suggestions would be useful only a few iterations down the line.
The only possible interpretation of any research whatever in the `social sciences' is: some do, some don't. -- Ernest Rutherford
