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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."
You would be doing them a great service to teach them to evaluate and select operating systems so their future lives won't be full of wasted time with antimalware/antispyware/antivirus, constant reboots, things that don't work for no particular reason, the need to wipe and reinstall every 6 months, etc...
While you're at it, teach them techniques for maintaining their privacy on-line.
I do freelance creative work and it is extremely frustrating that everywhere I go where there is an I-T department they give me a Windows XP computer that can't do anything reliably except fail. I always have a Mac, iPad, and iPhone in my bag which I use to get work done. The person sitting next to me where I'm working now, who is also a freelancer, uses her own Ubuntu notebook and an iPhone to get work done. Both of us are seen as miracle workers by our boss who is on the other coast and can't see that we don't use any of the tools they issued us. This company has a whole floor of I-T people patching their Windows systems, yet we 2 freelancers are more productive with what we have on us. We were asked to sign up for Windows 7 training and we just laughed our asses off.
When I see an I-T person with Windows, I just know that person will not help me be more productive. That is not even on their radar. They won't know the company business, they just know when support for a particular Microsoft product is ending and what replaces it, and how to brush off user complaints that this is just another Microsoft remix with no helpful features that will cost them time and effort with no reward.