Ask Slashdot: What To Tell High-Schoolers About Computer Science?

First time accepted submitter lsllll writes "I got drawn (without my intention) into three 20 minute sessions, talking to high school students about computer science and programming, and am wondering what are some of the things I should talk to them about. I have previously done the same thing for a forty minute period, and all the students wanted to talk about game programming. My only game programming experience dates back to the late '80s and programming a few games (some which ran on top of Novell's network) in Turbo Pascal. Since then I have done lots of database design, web interface programming, and systems configuration and integration. I am pretty fluent with Windows and Linux, but my contemporary programming skills are somewhat limited to Coldfusion, PHP, Javascript, SQL and bash scripts. Should I talk to them about different aspects of computer science, what it's like to work full-time in the computer industry, or do I make the sessions just question and answer, since 20 minutes might not allow me to talk and do question and answer?"

Comments

Society and CS

[hrdo]

I think it would be a good idea to discuss with them how computer science effects different aspects of society. I think the reason they like to focus on game programming is because that is the only exciting thing about CS they soft of understand. Here's a few things you could talk about application wise: - Control systems (aviation, industry, trains, subways, superfast cars, etc.) - Trading robots - changing market dynamics - Open source and the web Just a few ideas. Q&A is fine if they are up for it, but give them some focus points up front. Cheers!

Re:Society and CS

[Anonymous Coward]

I agree - I think it would be important to talk about how pervasive computers have in our economy and society - it's hard to imagine an aspect of life that has not been affected by the digital revolution - and then explain the role that CS has within that revolution.

Re:Tell them this

[starfishsystems]

Hard to put that up against a generation who has a lot of instant gratification when it comes to their experience with anything technology related.

Man, you have a true gift for words.

When I was a CS undergrad, it was a small and somewhat exotic discipline. Exactly one course was offered at the first year level. Anyone wanting to get into the program had to first pass through the course. It began with a lecture that basically warned us to expect several times the effort in this course compared to the other sciences. That was no exaggeration. It meant that not too many people went into the program who didn't love it for its own sake. We were happy to put in the time. This was the spirit of folks like Dennis Ritchie.

The dot com boom felt horrid. The industry was massively invaded by greed and competitiveness and impatience and fascination with all things shiny, more the spirit of Steve Jobs. But you can't get around the fact that science is a discipline. It entails a lot of work. If I were trying to expose kids to computer science today, I'd talk to them about this reality. I wouldn't mind scaring a lot of them away, frankly. But I'd also present some simple examples of why I find it so beautiful and appealing. Binary numbers and simple operations. I'd say, "This might seem boring, but this is where it all starts. All we have to work with at first is O and 1. They're our Legos. And we're building an entire universe with them." I'd let my enthusiasm speak for itself. A few in the class would sort of get it. That's all that matters.