2 ms·

While I am a volunteer & proponent of STEM, I pity the administrators & teachers who need to figure out how to cram so many subjects into students heads. I also

While I am a volunteer & proponent of STEM, I pity the administrators & teachers who need to figure out how to cram so many subjects into students heads. I also pity the students. There is a limited time in a day & everyone has their subjects they feel students need to do more of, including arts, recess, and physical activity which seem to be the most recent cuts. I think Charlie Munger once said we learn the really important stuff by middle school. I think it would be nice if kids had more control over the direction they are interested in & the subjects they want to really excel at. This of course requires them to try different things. But once they find one they're really passionate about, I believe we should let them go deep into it without requiring as much of other content. I believe a well rounded education is great but without being able to focus in one area we can't become an expert in anything. Bill Gates & Warren Buffet have both argued that focus is the key to success at anything.

yazaddaruvala 8y ago
I really feel computer science isn’t a subject as much as it is a medium. Once we learn to write, we don’t take writing classes, we take grammar classes. Meanwhile, we write to participate in the rest of our classes. Similarly, computer science should become the medium of participation for STEM classes. For example, math and physics, would be easy classes to transition to only be taught with Python. Instead of using a graphing calculator to solve word problems, what if the class was about building a graphing calculator? You would still learn how mathematical functions translate to graphs, but you would also learn to write software that accurately simulates math, and later physics.
- mattferderer 8y ago
  I do like mixing subjects together as you propose. A couple things to watch out for though: It can lead to slowing down your learning of the main skill. For example, I might try to include TDD in any coding tutorial. While that's great, it slows down how fast the student can learn the new concept. Being forced to write essays that are X words long for your History report, turns most people into terrible writers who are unable to explain a concept in a fewer amount of words and are typically full of very long run-on sentences.
- bg4 8y ago
  I very much agree and I tell every young CS student I meet that Computer Science + Some Other Domain = bright future
  - deleted 8y ago
    [deleted]
cr0sh 8y ago
If there were one thing that we should be teaching kids, and only one thing, in my opinion it would be this: How to enjoy and be a lifelong learner. It seems to me that many people actually stop learning (some actively - as in they do anything not to learn new stuff) after the finish high school or college. The don't read, they don't explore, they don't wonder, they don't invent - in short, they stop learning. More horrifyingly, this is somewhat celebrated in our culture (at least here in the United States)! I believe this needs to change, and soon, if we are ever to get out of the societal mess we find ourselves wallowing in currently. I'm pessimistic, though, that this will change.

yazaddaruvala 8y ago

I really feel computer science isn’t a subject as much as it is a medium. Once we learn to write, we don’t take writing classes, we take grammar classes. Meanwhile, we write to participate in the rest of our classes. Similarly, computer science should become the medium of participation for STEM classes. For example, math and physics, would be easy classes to transition to only be taught with Python. Instead of using a graphing calculator to solve word problems, what if the class was about building a graphing calculator? You would still learn how mathematical functions translate to graphs, but you would also learn to write software that accurately simulates math, and later physics.

mattferderer 8y ago
I do like mixing subjects together as you propose. A couple things to watch out for though: It can lead to slowing down your learning of the main skill. For example, I might try to include TDD in any coding tutorial. While that's great, it slows down how fast the student can learn the new concept. Being forced to write essays that are X words long for your History report, turns most people into terrible writers who are unable to explain a concept in a fewer amount of words and are typically full of very long run-on sentences.
bg4 8y ago
I very much agree and I tell every young CS student I meet that Computer Science + Some Other Domain = bright future
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

cr0sh 8y ago

If there were one thing that we should be teaching kids, and only one thing, in my opinion it would be this: How to enjoy and be a lifelong learner. It seems to me that many people actually stop learning (some actively - as in they do anything not to learn new stuff) after the finish high school or college. The don't read, they don't explore, they don't wonder, they don't invent - in short, they stop learning. More horrifyingly, this is somewhat celebrated in our culture (at least here in the United States)! I believe this needs to change, and soon, if we are ever to get out of the societal mess we find ourselves wallowing in currently. I'm pessimistic, though, that this will change.