SamuelMulder

7 ms·

31.
by SamuelMulder 14y ago
As other comments have mentioned, Scratch is great for younger children. I've had some success teaching basic Scratch concepts to 5 year olds, although they vary a lot in willingness to play with it. If nothing else, showing them the cool
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
He actually starts out by pointing out that the American education system is not very good at creating "interchangeable cogs".
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
This. I think most folks who truly master this stuff are self-taught, whether they went to University or not. I got all the degrees, but I can honestly say that I learned a lot more exploring on my own than I did sitting in class.
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
Your biggest problem is probably that Objective C developers are in extremely high demand. They can make a lot of money, or if they have an interest in start-ups the barrier for entry is so low to get in the app store that they probably do
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
I haven't seen a serious study, but I've taught Scratch programming to kids in the 6-10 age range and found that they were all able to grasp loops if presented in an appropriate way. Similarly, we didn't talk about functions exactly, but e
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
Programming is a much more general skill than plumbing. Don't just think Java enterprise apps for a Fortune 500... programming is fundamentally about learning how to use computers to their fullest. The ability to explore and create with c
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
Probably true at most places, but good companies can definitely drift into bad habits without being aware of it. Sometimes all it takes is a few managers recognizing the problem.
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
The problem is that lying on a resume is very closely related to a situation that will arise in most development jobs and which can really damage a team. Consider a developer who is in a status meeting and is behind or having trouble with
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
Self-affirmations certainly can't be a replacement for all work... BUT, it is well documented that those who have an optimistic mindset will persevere more in the work that they do and overall have better outcomes. It isn't either/or.
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
A lot of pop psychology latches onto these ideas, but they are fairly closely related to the Seligman's concept of optimism, which is pretty well documented with controlled studies. Having an optimistic mindset definitely increases your ch
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
Since when is $3 for a couple of hours of entertainment (each if you have a family) a bad deal? I have a hard time understanding how our standards for how much things should cost has fallen so low.
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
I think an important idea to keep in mind is opportunity cost. Don't approach this as: they want to remove other things from the core curriculum to make room for this symbolic manipulation game. We're talking a couple hours of fun, and the
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
Dragon Box is fairly different than any other math edutainment I've seen. Most of them are thinly disguised exercises in calculation. Dragon Box focuses on learning the abstract relationships first. Actually, I think it would be an inter
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
If anything, I'd say the education system is over "gamified" in the way that farmville is gamified. Everyone is trying to game the system, teach to the test, optimize for exit exams, etc. Dragon Box brings the important concept of the gam
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
Don't write off CS grad students who did most of their research in OR. My CS dissertation was in an area that would definitely be considered OR, and many CS students at our school learned Tabu search, Simulated Annealing, etc., often in th
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
A young monk gazed over the walls of the temple at the town in the valley below. Upon seeing the townspeople toiling at meaningless tasks, he asked the master, "Why do they not seek enlightenment?" The master replied, "They are unaware of
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by SamuelMulder 14y ago
I had just written about this yesterday when my 6 year old and 8 year old finished it: http://www.educationreimagined.org/2012/06/dragon-box/ . I had a couple of questions from the 6 year old, but my 8 year old son only asked for clarifi