[ILUG] [OT] noncomputing nonscience in secondary.

[Twomey_Mark at emc.com]

Hmm,
         The problem is not how they teach but what they teach. Lets face it
how much of what you learned in school came from listening to the teacher
and how much more came from your own study or the homework you had to do no
matter how baffling the subject you were studying appeared to be. We learn
through figuring things out and making mistakes doing it.

When I was significantly shorter than I am now, what made me nag my parents
into getting a computer, in a nutshell it was probably LOGO. We were
frog-marched into a makeshift computer lab and worked in teams to solve
problems using computers, for example how to draw shapes on screen to exact
specifications. It used maths, communication skills and a rather primitive
form of programming with an understandable syntax. Even though later on in
life I found that LOGO was based on differential calculus it was such a good
learning tool and we had so much fun, I'm sure that lab would have minted
geeks by the dozen. The moment it was decided to show us how a word
processor worked as "that would be useful in the real world", I remember
dozens of eyes glazing over all at once. A computing "education" like that
has destroyed the wonderment in many children.

It's more apps like LOGO that we need, most developers these days however
have neither the  skills nor the interest in working out how to build
knowledge & communication skills in children.

I'm going to ignore the whole gender thing as it's pretty much a quagmire,
there is something to be said about how genetics plays a role in behaviour
but likewise environment also plays a significant role. It would take school
experiences as told by a woman to clear up certain points. 

At then end of the day, those who geek.. usually do. Regardless of gender or
circumstances. 

Mark.