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The simplest way would be to shove computing under the maths curriculum. Teach if with guard statements, and skip for, teach recursion. by the time the kids get
by lclarkmichalek 15y ago
The simplest way would be to shove computing under the maths curriculum. Teach if with guard statements, and skip for, teach recursion. by the time the kids get to sixth form, have a mathmatical computation course where you teach them to apply their knowledge to a language like haskell that mirrors mathmatical notation quite well.
- itmag 15y agoI would probably just go with Python or something. Teach them variables, for loops, if statements, printing stuff to the screen, stuff like that. That way they get a good notion of what programming actually is. I'm only now getting into functional programming. I would not have grokked it very well when I was like 12 years old.
- philwelch 15y agoMaybe functional programming would be easier to grasp had you not learned imperative programming first.
- kabdib 15y agoI never had a problem with this, and my first few languages were BASIC, assembly and C. LISP came naturally to me a few years later. I think the problem is that people are /used/ to imperative programs, and aren't given real practice in functional programming. There are also FP zealots, some of whom maintain that learning IP first causes damage. I think this attitude is toxic and doesn't actually help their "cause" (as if good tools needed a "cause" -- good tools should just be good tools).
- itmag 15y agoI would probably create a whole new class called "thinking 101" or something. It should teach: -numeracy: how much is 1 million/1 billion/1 trillion, etc. -common cognitive biases. -logical fallacies. -basic science. -basic coding. -De Bono's 6 thinking hats. -how the brain works. -meditation (ie not thinking). -how to learn stuff faster and better. -how to remember stuff: memory palace and the like. -etc I could think up a HUGE list of stuff in this genre that would be very helpful.
- michael_dorfman 15y agoSounds like you are reinventing the ExPhil: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Examen_philosophicum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Examen_philosophicum
- _exec 15y agoInteresting. Do you have any idea what kind of topics the course teaches? Is there a list online?
- d4nt 15y agoDuring sixth form college (ages 16-18, in the UK) one of the philosophy lecturers started a course with the same sort of goals. It covered critical thinking, written communication, logic, a bit of psychology etc. The 12 or so hours I spent in those lectures were among the most valuable hours I invested in anything, ever.
- itmag 15y agoYeah, it's an obvious patch to society with tremendous potential for trickle down benefit. Why isn't it being done?
- derleth 15y agoHonestly? It would likely be too much fun. There is still, to this day, a large number of people who think education needs to be repetitive rote drill in order to be... real, or legitimate, or even 'useful' by some warped definition of that concept. It's tied into the notion of hazing, or "If I had to waste my years in school tied to a desk memorizing stuff I don't use, so should you! Builds character!" And, finally, the idea that if the next generation does it, too, maybe your time doing it wasn't simply wasted.