5 ms·

Wow-- that's really awesome-- a very deep generalist curriculum. This is along the lines of what I'd like to ultimately create. It's hard, though, because I a

by mlyle 4y ago

Wow-- that's really awesome-- a very deep generalist curriculum. This is along the lines of what I'd like to ultimately create. It's hard, though, because I am offering this in the form of electives, and students have limited slots to fill and as they get older their willingness to take any risk in selecting a class decreases. I teach in both high school and middle school, and I've found I can be a lot "bolder" in what I teach in the middle school so far.

oaiey 4y ago
IMHO middle and high school do not have the life focus and specialization yet. Hacking on a microprocessor trainer is no fun and definitely does not bring you anything if you are not in CS and even then you can survive without.
- mlyle 4y ago
  > Hacking on a microprocessor trainer is no fun I did give them system calls to draw sprites and things on the LCD. My students had fun competing over all the challenges. Scored very well in the anonymous post-class surveys, too, though I did have one critical score. Also the majority of the students from that class are electing at least one of my classes next year. Each year I teach one "crazy" class with undergraduate level material to MS students. This year it's going to be circuits. They're going to learn KCL/KVL, transistor biasing, oscillators, amplifiers and gates, how to use decoders and logic gates to spell things on 7seg displays, etc. > definitely does not bring you anything if you are not in CS I think knowing what a computer actually is is valuable information to know. > IMHO middle and high school do not have the life focus and specialization yet. That's one of the nice things about having an elective-heavy school. They do a deep class on computer architecture, then they go participate in a musical, then they take a 3d art class. Immerse yourself deeply in lots of things to see what's interesting and to get exposure to many ideas.

by mlyle 4y ago

oaiey 4y ago

IMHO middle and high school do not have the life focus and specialization yet. Hacking on a microprocessor trainer is no fun and definitely does not bring you anything if you are not in CS and even then you can survive without.

mlyle 4y ago
> Hacking on a microprocessor trainer is no fun I did give them system calls to draw sprites and things on the LCD. My students had fun competing over all the challenges. Scored very well in the anonymous post-class surveys, too, though I did have one critical score. Also the majority of the students from that class are electing at least one of my classes next year. Each year I teach one "crazy" class with undergraduate level material to MS students. This year it's going to be circuits. They're going to learn KCL/KVL, transistor biasing, oscillators, amplifiers and gates, how to use decoders and logic gates to spell things on 7seg displays, etc. > definitely does not bring you anything if you are not in CS I think knowing what a computer actually is is valuable information to know. > IMHO middle and high school do not have the life focus and specialization yet. That's one of the nice things about having an elective-heavy school. They do a deep class on computer architecture, then they go participate in a musical, then they take a 3d art class. Immerse yourself deeply in lots of things to see what's interesting and to get exposure to many ideas.