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From: sean@ukma.UUCP (Sean Casey)
Newsgroups: net.college
Subject: re: programming and carpentry in high school
Message-ID: <467@ukma.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 7-Jan-85 03:34:04 EST
Article-I.D.: ukma.467
Posted: Mon Jan  7 03:34:04 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 8-Jan-85 04:38:02 EST
References: <399@hou2b.UUCP>
Organization: Univ. of KY Mathematical Sciences
Lines: 25


I feel that high schools,  while  doing  well  in  teaching  kids
facts,   are  doing  little  in  teaching  kids how to learn. The
problems in this world are getting more complex; the advantage is
going  to  go to the people who can attack them by coming up with
new ideas, not just iterating old ones.

It is for this  reason  I  feel  that  computer  science  is   an
excellent  choice  for  a  high  school  curriculum. The problems
presented are of such a variety and nature  as   to   cause   the
student   to  create   new  relationships  in  his  mind. This is
similer to solving mathematic and geometrical proofs; the student
must  make  new  mental   connections   to solve them. It is this
process--the student learning to  connect  things  mentally--that
teaches the student  to think.

Why not chess? Chess presents too high a level of abstraction for
learning  purposes. The problems presented by a chess game do not
apply to real world.  In contrast, most computer courses use real
world examples to teach programming.  A student can easily relate
an algorithm with what happens in real life.


Sean Casey
UK Dept. of Mathematical Sciences