Please create an account to participate in the Slashdot moderation system

 



Forgot your password?
typodupeerror

Comment Re:I say good job. (Score 1) 75

In AMD's defense, when they were first launching AM4 motherboards, they didn't have the pull to set that sort of spec. They were hurting financially at the time of the 300-series motherboards, maybe they could have specified that by the launch of the 400-series. The X570 boards are a different animal. AMD was in a much better place when they came out. I think that it is great that they are responding positively to the enthusiast community, though.

Comment The future reader. (Score 1) 323

Since the education market is just starting to turn more to e-books, more people will be exposed to them as children in elementary, middle, and high schools. This is going to mean that more people will be exposed to e-books earlier in life and get into the habit of using them because the note taking and sharing options are getting more powerful with e-books. As you have more people who grew up with e-books reach adulthood, I think that sales with climb significantly.

Comment Re:Even better (Score 1) 423

Quite honestly, when I was 7 years old my school had everyone learn BASIC programming on a TRS-80. It has helped me always feel confident in dealing with computers in a way that very few in the current generation seem to feel comfortable. I'd love to build a PC with a younger child and explain what pieces do. Then make sure that the child has a way to make the system their own. Let them play, let them learn to program.

Comment Re:Unfortunately this stuff is rarely thought thro (Score 1) 456

I am a private school teacher and we explored the use of iPads in high school and middle school. We basically concluded that the cost exceeds the utility of the device. We want to teach students to be content creators, not simply consumers. And the iPad isn't nearly as suitable to this function as an equivalently priced laptop. Instead, we're moving to model of standardization of software for ease of exchange of files and setting standards for student computers that will connect to the network. We're trying to look at software that is licensed to allow all students to run it on personal laptops since, being a private school, many of the laptops on campus are not school-owned. This is moving in the direction where we would expect all students to have their laptop with them every day. Of course, one real sticking point is that very few rooms have the power outlets to let an entire class of students run plugged in and most laptops don't have battery for a full day of classes (which is one of the few things that was really attractive about the iPad).

Comment Re:High School Chem (Score 1) 154

Yes and no.

Chemistry at this level, like most high school courses, should also be about learning to be an integrative thinker and relate ideas in one area to another. This include computer skills that might be learned in one class and applying them to another; connecting ideas from biology, chemistry, and physics; realizing that the problem solving skills of math translate; learning to apply the writing skills from English and history classes in other contexts.

Believe it or not, this is not something that every student does for themselves. It is something that most need to learn. And the teachers that I work with usually spend quite a lot of time trying to help with this issue.

Comment Re:LaTeX (Score 3, Informative) 154

As a high-school teacher, I have used LaTeX in physics class. It might seem like it has a steep learning curve at first, but the students catch on very quickly. It can be used both in reports and in presenting material to each other online. MediaWiki, phpBB, and many other tools for interaction have the ability to use TeX...which makes presenting equations far easier than hacking things together with HTML codes. Also, depending on the order of the chemistry and biology courses in your school, you may want to, as someone recommends below, look at PyMol or another 3D molecular viewer. There are also a number of decent Java packages that don't a local installation to run (which depending on how good your tech support is about installing new packages might be easier if the available computers already have Java installed).

Slashdot Top Deals

Why did the Roman Empire collapse? What is the Latin for office automation?

Working...