Computer Curriculum for Inner City Kids?

manicmailman asks: "I have recently (and probably somewhat rashly) volunteered to help teach computers at a local inner city school's summer camp program. I am really excited about this endeavor, but I have absolutely no experience. I was wondering if anyone else had experience teaching computers to elementary school students, particularly inner city ones. I'll probably only be there for 4 to 6 hours a week for about 8 weeks. The principal has given me almost total freedom with the computer class, so I am looking for suggestions about where to start and what to cover." Children from all walks of life deserve an education, and like it or not, computers are becomming as much a part of our lives as reading, writing and math. What lessons are kids ready to accept about computers at this stage, and how does one keep them interested?

Comments

Re:Get them on LOGO

[Ian Bicking]

I really like Logo too. It teaches programming, but it also is very much about teaching mathematics, geometry, pre-algebra, and algorithmic thinking in general. Thus Logo can satisfy both the people who want academics (math), and people who want vocational aspects (programming).

Some scattered thoughts:

• You can use MSW Logo for free (GPL even). It's hardly the best interface or anything, but it will do. MicroWorlds is a very popular commercial Logo environment. If you have the budget, you might use it. HyperStudio, which they probably already have, has a Logo inside it too. But don't use that, as it's a really lame environment, not to mention a crappy implementation.

• I would also like to reemphasize that you should do things in a hands-on manner. Start out right on the computer, and try to keep them working with the computer as much as possible. Try very hard to get a one-to-one computer-to-student ratio, even if it means kids get less total time on the computers. Of course this doesn't mean you should force the kids to stay at their computer -- if you are doing something fun, the kids will want badly to show each other what they are doing. If they don't want to show each other, you are doing the wrong project.

• Against my previous advice, you should do physical practice with Logo turtle commands -- i.e., have the kids order each other or you around using Logo commands. Like, have the kids navigate you around the room by using just left, right, forward, and back commands. This amuses them, because they can make you bump into tables and walk out the door. It is useful, because they'll have an easier time imagining themselves in your place than they will have imagining themselves in the turtles place.

• Of course, if you have access to Lego Logo stuff (which is expensive), use it. You'll probably enjoy that as much as the kids.

• Don't start out too quickly -- just have them draw pictures at first. Kids are surprisingly easy to amuse this way. If you have enough time, kids might be able to make games too, but very possibly not :-( MicroWorlds would make game-making much easier.

• Oh, and if you have older kids, Star Logo is a neat environment for experimenting with massively parrallel computation. And if you feel a bit more adventurous and have Macs available, maybe try Boxer, a somewhat more visual programming language with the same goals as Logo.

Mentioning "inner city" != racist

[Chewie]

I'm sorry, but I see absolutely nothing in his tone or in his words to imply that, as you put it, "inner-city students just can't learn because they're too stupid or too black." Talk about jumping the gun. First of all, any concerns would seem to be made on a socio-economic basis, not on a racial basis as you seem to assume (who's prejudiced now?). The fact is that the term "inner-city" is most widely used to refer to poorer residents of highly-populated urban areas, and as such, they probably do not have the best facilities or equipment for learning. Now, someone who has grown up in an affluent neighborhood (or even a lower-middle-class neighborhood) has probably at least seen a computer in his life, whereas poorer students may have never experienced them, and the teacher needs to find a way to engage them, to get them to care about what he's trying to teach. Also, these kids are more likely from a very different social background than he is (again, not about race, but about socio-economic levels). He seems to be genuinely eager to help these kids, and jumping on him for something over-interpreted as racism isn't helping anyone.

Personally, I think your over-zealous inference of racism is doing more harm than the author possibly could.

Start with the basics and see where the class is

[powerlord]

I'll preface everything by saying I've never given this sort of class and I'm not a professional teacher :)

That aside...

Two things I think you need to do. First off see where the class is. Some of them may have computers at home. Some may be hackers in their free time (you also make mention about age range). Some may have no exposure to computers (hard to imagine but true). Some may have programing background the others, nil (or NULL if you prefer ::grin::)

The second, start with some basics.

If nothing else, cover what the parts of the computer are, and how they work IN GENERAL. You don't need to get too specific but one or two quick overviews would
1) allow you to have a basic knowledge to build on
2) help ease many future tech support calls
3) have some basic lesson that you can start with, while you are still deciding how much they know, so you know where to take the class.

It would also depend on what sort of equipment you have available (1 computer per student, 1 per 2 or 3, 1 for the class).

Beyond the basics of what computers are, and how they work, you could also work on both GUIs (ie, what they are and how they work), as well as some basic programming.

For GUIs you could work with either Windows, Mac, Gnome/KDE, or any other. Try to teach the concepts they include (point and click, drag and drop, menu bars, etc.). Even for those people who use computers, a lot of the time they don't look at the GUIs. How many times do you stop and think about the functionality of the buttons and layouts? (or how much better it might be done?)

For programming try a simple scripting language like Perl or Python. (depending on your preference). If you don't have computers available, you could also try the basic technique of having them write simple scripts and acting like the computers themselves (follow the instructions and see what happens).

It all depends on the ago of the children. With kids you can try explaining programing as commands to make something happen (you want to tell the dog what to do, first go outside... but the door is closed, which direction should it go, etc). For GUI development you could work with a paint program (there are oodles of them for kids, and it might work well), for older kids I'd try a word processor and/or spreadsheet since its a valuable skill to have. Also, don't forget that many of them will already be familiar with Web browsers.

If you have limited resources that might be another thought, teach them how to build web pages. This includes some creativity, some programming (okay HTML isn't programming per se, but Javascript could be), and some general computer skills (how do you enter the files? How do I use the internet, etc.).

Sorry for the rambling.
Hope these ideas help some. Let me know how it goes.

What I did

[pmbuko]

I had the chance to be a special computer guest for my teacher-friend. What I did was bring in a 3D graphics program. I showed them all some animations I had done and they were glued to the computer screen.

I then sent them off to their own computers where I had pre-laoded the software and ran them through the basics. By the end of the class period, they were making some really cool scenes! And they were only K-2!

Whatever you do, make sure it's something that's fun and involving. Kids are awesome and most of them pick up on things quick, so you have to keep it interesting.

Computer Clubhouse & Geeks in the Streets

[LionKimbro]

There is a well written paper The Computer Clubhouse: Technological Fluency in the Inner City that I just found by doing a web search. It includes a list of principles to keep in mind when teaching kids.

You might want to also check out Geeks into the Streets - "Geeks Into The Streets (GITS) is an opportunity for people who love computers to bring them to people who might otherwise not have access to them." Their primary project is House Agape.

some advice

[Preposterous Coward]

I've helped teach (admittedly privileged) elementary-school kids in the past, and I've also done some work with a volunteer organization that helped wire New York City schools and gave computer instruction to teachers, so here are some observations I've derived from those experiences.

The Prime Directive: Be as direct, and hands-on, as possible.

Try to minimize the amount of time you spend on background material. While it's fascinating to techie types like us to know what's going on under the hood, the thing the kids will probably want most is simply to get their hands on the machines and play. Put as few obstacles in the way of that as possible, and encourage exploration. Get their hands on the computers on the first day! You can circle back and teach the "why" material later.

Also, don't try to shove too much material into too little time. Save time for the kids to explore and have fun, not just plow through prefab lessons.

Find out what the kids are most interested in, and teach them that.

You want to keep the excitement level and sense of discovery high so that the kids will develop a lasting interest in computers, so I encourage flexibility rather than strict adherence to any particular course of study. The kids may not know enough about computers to even know what most interests them, but think about Web surfing (careful with what sites they can access, of course), email/IM, games, maybe even digital imaging if you can get your hands on a digicam or scanner. It'll be a lot easier to introduce word processing after you've gotten people hooked on email (which has a much higher fun quotient) than vice versa. Things involving graphics will also have a lot more appeal than those involving text, particularly since many of the kids may not know how to type or, in the worst case, may have limited literacy.*

Encourage the more knowledgeable/experienced kids to help their classmates.

The kids will learn at different speeds. Some will pick things up right away and others will agonize over it forever. Use this to your advantage and have the fast learners help out the slower learners, if you can do this without causing too much friction.

Come up with lessons that convey the ideas that the kids will need to know for future success with computers -- but subtly and in the course of something they can relate to.

Identify the basic concepts you want kids to understand when they leave. That probably includes something like:

• The difference between working memory and permanent storage
• Basic filesystem concepts (what's a file, what's a folder, what does copying and deleting/trashing do)
• What an application is, how to start it, how to get information from one to another (i.e., the clipboard)
• How to get on and use the Internet for e-mail, basic research (search engines and the like), etc.

(Some of these might be overkill if you're talking early elementary school -- first-graders might not need to know about filesystems, for example, but fifth- or sixth-graders ought to be at least introduced to the concept.)

Come up with a list of resources the kids can use after the class is over.

Two things: First, where are places they can go to continue using computers if they don't have one at home. That could be places like public libraries. Second, what books, Web sites, etc. can they turn to if they want to learn more on their own.

*--Note: the comment about limited literacy, in this context of teaching a summer camp that includes "inner-city" kids, is not meant to be any kind of coded racist reference. It's simply the sad truth that many kids in school in the U.S. who are not in affluent suburban schools (and probably quite a few who are, as well) are reading well below grade level. This is something you should be prepared for.

Bull...

[Gruneun]

I like network gaming as much as the next guy, but to say playing networked games teaches about networks is like saying, "I'm learning auto repair by driving to work everyday."

By and large, the population of game players knows absolutely nothing about the console/computer/network that they use. If you want to include computer games in a class about computers, have the kids create a game. Kids like to be creative and see a product of their work.

Maybe elementary school kids can't create a first-person shooter, but if you show them a digital camera and teach them to edit their it will spark their interest. That's all you need. They'll ask questions about the ASCII and binary subjects later.

Get them on LOGO

[Dancin_Santa]

Text parsing and DB accessing are B-O-R-I-N-G. Get them doing "graphics programming" with LOGO or some other similarly easy-to-learn-with-quick-results language.

Dancin Santa

Re:keeping them interested...

[banuaba]

Must...kill..all...deer.

Your daughter, Jamie, has just died from typhoid fever.

You try to ford the river.
12 horses and 42 of your children have died.
Do you want to buy more bullets? (Y/N)

God, I loved that game.


Brant