On Wednesday 21 Sep 2011 11:51:15 AM Hilaire Fernandes wrote:
Le 19/09/2011 19:05, K. K. Subramaniam a écrit :
On Monday 19 Sep 2011 2:27:55 AM Jecel Assumpcao Jr. wrote:
About programming for the masses, I see two educational reasons to insist on that.
The debates about programmin I encounter is usually around "how" and not "why".
I am not really sure programming should be the focus point. In Scratch it is but, is not connecting ideas and concepts the focus point in Etoys, and programming a small mean to get there?
"Programming" is just a common way of referring to the process of giving shape to ideas on a computer. Such a process is very error-prone (due in no small part to the crude tools available) and requires a person to apply both inductive and deductive ("debugging") skills to perfect the creation. The creation becomes important in a business context but not in an educational context.
Programming in Etoys is like juggling. What is the end-product of juggling? Why are people fascinated by juggling?
A village school teacher related an incident of a 4th grader with poor writing skills who, after spending a few weeks typesetting letter shapes using LatexMorph, broke into a torrent of writing. I have also come across other cases where Etoys (once past the initial chasm) triggered a big jump in learning levels. To me, this is the most fascinating aspect of Etoys.
Regards .. Subbu