Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:574] Basic (or LOGO) as the "Latin" of the 80s
From: Ken Kahn (kenkahn@toontalk.com)
Date: Thu 02 Nov 2000 - 18:33:54 MET
From: "Ken Kahn" <kenkahn@toontalk.com> Subject: [IFETS-DISCUSSION:574] Basic (or LOGO) as the "Latin" of the 80s Date: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 09:33:54 -0800
> ------------------------------
> From: "Corrie Bergeron" <corrie@itasca.net>
> [snip]
>
> I liken the current situation to that of a few hundred years ago, after
> Gutenberg's press became commonplace. Did every teacher need to be able
to
> compose type, ink a platen, and bind books? Of course not! Teachers did
> need to be able to read, however, and the good ones figured out effective
> ways to use the technical innovations - table of contents, page numbers,
> index - to advantage. But the current focus on "technology education for
> teachers" assumes that every teacher will be the digital equivalent of a
> typesetter and engraver! When I was teaching undergrads in a
teacher-prep
> program in the late 1980's, we taught them how to program in BASIC - about
> as useful as teaching them Latin IMO. (And if you actually know Latin,
> you'll probably howl at the butchered grammar in subject line.)
>
Interesting topic. Here's how I see the same analogy.
"compose type, ink a platen, and bind books" <==> assembling a computer,
adding a new card, and the like
"able to read [the output of the press]" <==> running software created by
others
What is missing from Corrie's analogy is:
write (i.e. create content for a paper-based media) <==> programming your
own application (i.e. creating content for a computational media)
We all accept that a teacher or student should not only master reading but
also writing. Why can't we also accept that a teacher or student should not
only master how to use software but also how to create it? (Again by analogy
we aren't expecting the writing by students and teachers to be Pulitzer or
Nobel Prize quality and so by creating software I don't imply that it should
have the same production values or scope as shrink wrapped software.)
Best,
-ken kahn (www.toontalk.com)
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