Re: Ice breakers

[Coda Highland <chighland@...>]

On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 11:41 AM, liam mail <liam.list@googlemail.com> wrote:
> On 8 November 2012 19:31, Coda Highland <chighland@gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Thu, Nov 8, 2012 at 11:24 AM, liam mail <liam.list@googlemail.com> wrote:
>>> On 8 November 2012 17:53, David Given <dg@cowlark.com> wrote:
>>>> Therefore:
>>>>
>>>> a = a + 1
>>>>
>>>> ...does not *change* the value of the thing a points at. Instead it
>>>> creates a new number with the value (a+1) and then reassigns a to point
>>>> at the new number instead of the old one.
>>>
>>> How did you come to this conclusion ?
>>> 'a' is a place on the stack, yes a temp lua_Number is created to store
>>> the result of a+1 yet 'a'(stack slot) is then assigned the value of
>>> this temp.
>>>
>>> --Liam
>>>
>>
>> Read the context.
>>
>> It doesn't matter what the language *actually* does.
>>
>> If you have to explain it in terms of stack slots, you've already lost
>> most beginning programmers. When you say "a = a + 1" you're saying "I
>> want the name 'a' to refer to the value 'a + 1' " and that's it. Don't
>> complicate it more than that.
>>
>> /s/ Adam
>>
>
> Funny you should say this because I seem not to be the norm in this
> thread where people are suggesting that graphics and high levels of
> abstraction should be used to teach children. I am currently teaching
> a Eight year old the VM byte code as an introduction to assembly but
> thanks for your opinion.
>
> --Liam
>

I said "most" beginning programmers. It would have worked for me at
that age (I started off typing examples out of the manual at age 5),
but if you're trying to interest kids who hadn't previously given a
thought to programming it's important not to overwhelm them. Computer
programming is a fairly advanced form of mathematics, when it comes
down to it, and the overwhelming sentiment is that kids hate math.
(It's hard to find statistics but one poll I found cited that math was
twice as likely as any other subject to be a child's most hated
subject.) Most educators who have weighed in on the matter cite that
it's getting too tough and that the school system is trying to push
too hard to get students into more advanced math too early.

I suppose the real conclusion to be drawn here is that there's no one
best way to educate all children.

/s/ Adam