5 ms·
I have held many such sessions for kids. Instead of showing them the latest and the greatest: - I point them to the technology already around them, in their d
by alok-g 7y ago
I have held many such sessions for kids. Instead of showing them the latest and the greatest:
- I point them to the technology already around them, in their daily use, that they see as too obvious by now. And then share stories of how all that had come about to be. Simple things like soap, door handles, stairs, pencils, clocks, ...
- Ask them simple questions that they never asked. How does an eraser erase pencil marks? How is mass conserved as a tree grows out of a seed? Why do women typically keep long hair while men keep short? Why don't animals do their own photosynthesis instead of depending on plants (or why don't plants also move around like animals)?
- Another session I am planning will share bios of many famous people, showing them how extraordinary came out of the ordinary.
It seems surprising to me that we teach them about planets, exotic natural phenomenon like chemical reactions, magnets, etc., without first talking about much more relevant things like why does matter occupy space (or why don't we just fall through the floor below us). The result is kids (and adults) who commonly talk about voltage without having slighest idea of what it actually is.
- alok-g 7y agoAdd-on comment: If you do want to talk about some core technology only, I would show them how mechanical switches work, and how you can connect them in series and parallel to do logic. Take some wall switches and break them open to show them what's inside.
- clarry 7y ago> Why do women typically keep long hair while men keep short? Does technology have an answer for this?
- alok-g 7y agoThat one is not a technology one indeed. I intermingle some non-tech ones just to show that there are curious simple things everywhere, and that there's more than just tech in their lives.
- fouc 7y agoI don't think you can truly answer that question without it being part lie. For one, we don't necessarily know the real reason, plus there's multiple reasons anyways, especially since it's taken on a life of its own and culture/history is part of it now.
- bepvte 7y agoApparently it is because "They like it that way". Pretty wild if you ask me.
- alok-g 7y agoWhat's more interesting than the answer to that question is the question itself. People live that way, taking it as granted, without ever asking. Merely putting the question before them is illuminating for them. In terms of actually asnwering, I do not have to go beyond what you have said, "it's taken on a life of its own ... part of it now", though I am prepared to dwell more into the history. Btw, the students find that question a lot more exciting than the others. Perhaps talking about the opposite sex is subconsciously more appealing to them, especially at that age.
- LeifCarrotson 7y ago> Ask them simple questions that they never asked. This is key to teachinging about high-tech engineering: don't paint over vast swathes of the stack with "it just works" or "it automatically knows". Take one specific thing it does, and drill down the pyramid, from high-level ideas about user intents way down through platforms and compilers and operating systems to wires and semiconductors. There's nothing particularly magical about tech (apart from the fact that it often does what it's supposed to). The awesome part of engineering is all the work put in at all levels to make hugely complex stuff work together.
- alok-g 7y ago>> high-level ideas about user intents way down through platforms and compilers and operating systems to wires and semiconductors. Indeed. I did one like that for software developers, just in the reverse order (starting from charges and voltage all the way up to how a microprocessor executes code). I just wrote about that in this comment here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20088868 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20088868
- Aromasin 7y agoI recommend the book "NAND to Tetris" to any software developers out there that want to learn bottom-up computer engineering. It's a great read. Following along and doing the exercises with it, along with watching Ben Eaters videos on YouTube, has been of the favourite things I've done in the past few years. I'm lucky enough that I started my career in software as an EE. As a result, while my CS friends and colleagues can run circles around me when it comes to high-level website/UI/game design, anything C, ASSEMBLY, BASIC or VHDL related they'll come ask me. Knowing what is happening at a physics, to component, to circuit, to system level really makes software "click" compared to the top down way of learning from my experience.
- imhoguy 7y agoExactly, start with basic but overlooked concepts. Give them magnifying glass and ask to watch subpixels while playing with MS Paint color fill. As 5th grader I learned electricity with some old book from my father's shelf which explained it with hydraulic analogy[1]. [1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_analogy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydraulic_analogy
- alok-g 7y agoExactly! I have delivered a three-hour session going from the meaning of voltage to understanding how a simple microprocessor works, using that analogy! This was intended for software developers and titled, "How does a Processor Execute my Code! And Why?!" I am planning to open it up outside my employer company. Also, am looking for some easy way to make water flow animations to go with it. :-) Having explained many concepts to my six year old son in an easy to understand way (things that would otherwise be out of reach even for high-schoolers) and in the form of bedtime stories (!), someone suggested me to open those up by writing a children story book. Coming one day ... :-)
- godelmachine 7y agoEagerly waiting for "How does a Processor Execute my Code! And Why?!" to come out in the public domain.