Slashdot Mirror
What 'IT' Stuff Should We Teach Ninth-Graders?
gphilip writes "I have been asked to contribute ideas for the preparation of a textbook for ninth graders (ages circa 14 years) in the subject of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). Could you suggest material to include in such a text? More details below."
Quite a few details, actually — how would you add to the curriculum plan outlined below?
"Background: This is for the public school system of the state of Kerala, India. The state has near-total literacy (we achieved this goal in 1991 following a massive literacy drive), and the government is keen on achieving total e-literacy as well. This drive for e-literacy — and the school curriculum that is the subject of this question — is based entirely on free and open-source software; the school system uses a customized version of Debian for teaching purposes.
ICT is a subject that has been recently introduced into the school curriculum. Currently we have, for all intents and purposes, a 'first generation' of students (and teachers) in this subject. To be more precise, the general public is just beginning to use computers in a big way, and the goal now is to familiarize them with the use of computers, and more specifically, with FOSS. The ICT textbook for the eighth grade (native language version), therefore, focusses on introducing various GNU/Linux software and showing how they can help in learning the other, more traditional, subjects. This textbook introduces the following software: The Gimp, Sunclock, OOO Writer, Calc, and Impress, Kalzium, Geogebra, Marble, and Kstars. In addition, there are simple introductions to elementary Python (variables, the print statement, and if-else), networking, and the Internet.
What we need: In the ninth grade textbook, we would like to shift the focus a bit. We want to introduce concepts which give more scope for creativity, and form a basis for further studies and/or a vocation in the future. The student spends one more year (the tenth grade) in the school system, and so there is scope for developing further on the theme of the ninth grade ICT book when designing the textbook for the tenth grade.
Given this background, are there some other FOSS software that, in your opinion, it would be good to introduce to our ninth graders?
I am partial towards introducing more of Python : the two loops, and perhaps the notion of a function. Do you have suggestions/pointers on how to go about doing this in a way that is easy to learn and to teach?
I would also like to give a glimpse of some ideas from computer science — the idea of an algorithm, for example — so that those kids with a math/CS aptitude get to see that there are such things out there. Which algorithms would be good for this purpose? Binary search is perhaps a good candidate, given that it is easy to describe informally, relates easily to things with which the student is familiar (phone book, dictionary), and it is easy to bring out the contrast in running time with the more natural linear search. What other algorithms would be instructive and motivating? Which other notions from computer science can be introduced to this audience in this manner?
Any other ideas/suggestions about this are also welcome."
ICT is a subject that has been recently introduced into the school curriculum. Currently we have, for all intents and purposes, a 'first generation' of students (and teachers) in this subject. To be more precise, the general public is just beginning to use computers in a big way, and the goal now is to familiarize them with the use of computers, and more specifically, with FOSS. The ICT textbook for the eighth grade (native language version), therefore, focusses on introducing various GNU/Linux software and showing how they can help in learning the other, more traditional, subjects. This textbook introduces the following software: The Gimp, Sunclock, OOO Writer, Calc, and Impress, Kalzium, Geogebra, Marble, and Kstars. In addition, there are simple introductions to elementary Python (variables, the print statement, and if-else), networking, and the Internet.
What we need: In the ninth grade textbook, we would like to shift the focus a bit. We want to introduce concepts which give more scope for creativity, and form a basis for further studies and/or a vocation in the future. The student spends one more year (the tenth grade) in the school system, and so there is scope for developing further on the theme of the ninth grade ICT book when designing the textbook for the tenth grade.
Given this background, are there some other FOSS software that, in your opinion, it would be good to introduce to our ninth graders?
I am partial towards introducing more of Python : the two loops, and perhaps the notion of a function. Do you have suggestions/pointers on how to go about doing this in a way that is easy to learn and to teach?
I would also like to give a glimpse of some ideas from computer science — the idea of an algorithm, for example — so that those kids with a math/CS aptitude get to see that there are such things out there. Which algorithms would be good for this purpose? Binary search is perhaps a good candidate, given that it is easy to describe informally, relates easily to things with which the student is familiar (phone book, dictionary), and it is easy to bring out the contrast in running time with the more natural linear search. What other algorithms would be instructive and motivating? Which other notions from computer science can be introduced to this audience in this manner?
Any other ideas/suggestions about this are also welcome."
Your course should be online and continuously developed, in part driven by responses / challenges from the students.
It is ironic that a course on using computer communications would be thought of as being taught from a textbook. There are no good reasons to publish a textbook and many bad ones.
rd
When I was a high school student, we had to take either an Introduction to Computers class or Basic Electronics.
I know we're talking India here, but the picture I'm getting is these kids can probably "operate" a computer just fine - enough to be an office lackey. But what about if it breaks? My parents used to go on and on about how "good" I was with computers, and they now do the same with my sister who's 10 years younger than I. Well, there's one difference. In high school, I took Basic Electronics instead of "Introduction to Computers".
Intro to Computers was basically a how-to-use-Windows class (all the computers were Apple until this class). They taught you basic use, how to not "catch a virus" - you know, not click Yes without reading. Nothing exciting. In Basic Electronics, it was even less exciting. We had textbooks. We learned the basics of electronics theory, did fun little diagrams of circuits with an arrow, "What's the voltage and current HERE?" and by the end of it, we were building digital alarm clocks, strobe lights, etc. We learned first hand why you didn't use an underrated capacitor, and we learned what happened when you plugged one in backwards. We learned to solder (and do it correctly), we learned to use resist pens to make cheap-o circuit boards, and once the school had the money, learned how to do it with a laser printer and transfer paper.
My poor sister has to come running to me when it's anything worse than a blue screen on her computer. She'll never be taking out the soldering iron. But what's that class meant to me? I'm a law student with a bachelors' in human development. It's certainly not going to be used by me at work. But:
* When my dad's cursing about the damn car with a check engine light on, and how back in the old days they walked uphill both ways to the parts store and could tell what was wrong just by listening, I break out my scanner and a multimeter, and the car tells me more clearly than a good ear ever could.
* I've never once had to pay for a repair man. When I was younger, I was shocked how much a family friend would want to pay for me to fix their VCR.
* I have never had to hire a company to run the LANs at our student housing properties. In fact, I usually return over school breaks to fix whatever nonsense the students at Penn Tech thought would get their internet connection working again (torrents are blocked).
I could go on, but you see my point. You could help your students greatly with just some bare-bones technical know how. They might find it a little boring at first, but it just may help out their employment prospects a little later down the road. The basics is where its at. Just like literacy. You don't teach them the alphabet and then throw a dictionary at them and tell them to get crackin'. You teach the alphabet, then a little bit of sentence structure, and you let them pull themselves up by the bootstraps.