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Obama Pledges $4B to Computer Science in US Schools

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Re: Obama Pledges $4B to Computer Science in US Schools

#131

Post by hackuser »

hdctambien wrote: post #120
hackuser wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you seen any research on this subject, or do you have expertise with teaching K-12?

I use Java and jcreator in my classroom. Both free. There are also free tools that help students get a grasp of concepts before mastering the syntax (bluej, scratch, alice) There are also packages that help with teaching, karel J robot comes to mind. I also use codehs.com as a supplement for my class.

Great, thanks. Any thoughts on what works and what doesn't, more generally?

Also, what do you teach and to students of what levels of aptitude and skill?

Re: Obama Pledges $4B to Computer Science in US Schools

#132

Post by hackaflocka »

sandworm101 wrote: post #69

How much of this will go to good teachers and interesting programs? And how much will simply be spent on overpriced machines (microsoft) and proprietary "connected classroom" concepts (apple)? You don't need much equipment to teach CS. Basic machines will do. And there is no need to spend any money on software these days (f/oss). I worry that this money is less an educational initiative and more a handout to those co…

Far from software and hardware. A good chunk will go to administrative overheads, pensions and the like.

Re: Obama Pledges $4B to Computer Science in US Schools

#133

Post by hackaflocka »

its2complicated wrote: post #95

This is just more bullshit to waste money on. In 8 years of development, I can count on one hand the programmers who showed any interest in programming outside of work, or that have GitHub accounts, or that know what a Binary Tree is. Programming has become, for the most part, Web development and the barrier to entry is so low that anyone can enter it after studying material off the Internet and watching YouTube vide…

100% agree. A basic Udacity course in programming can be very effective in teaching programming. These days all the Necessary educational material is available free off the internet.

Re: Obama Pledges $4B to Computer Science in US Schools

#134

Post by bobwaycott »

sandworm101 wrote: post #126
bobwaycott wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the last thing anyone wants in a school system is some kid accessing porn, or something judged to be equally offensive. I see school tech policies each year. They're never worried about, and rarely ever mention anything that could arguably be interpreted as, prohibiting running unauthorized code. That would require school administrators to know what unauthorized code is.

Can I download a linux distro via a bittorrent client, then boot into that distro? Can run metasploit on a school machine attached to the school network? There are plenty of things worse these days than kids downloading porn. Top of the list: kids creating porn. Terrorism, bomb threats, malware, cyberstalking, organizing flashmobs ... there are plenty of ways for kids to cause real trouble for a school far beyond the…

I think you completely misunderstood what I was saying.

Re: Obama Pledges $4B to Computer Science in US Schools

#135

Post by crdb »

ghufran_syed wrote: post #98

Do we really want to "reduce such a beautiful and meaningful art form to something so mindless and trivial[?]; no culture could be so cruel to its children as to deprive them of such a natural,satisfying means of human expression. How absurd!" - Lockhart [1]. He was talking about math, but I am sure the same results would occur with computer science "education" if done in high schools. "One of the best ways to stifle…

Related anecdote:

I had "computer science" classes in middle school in France. They consisted of typing classes. I still remember sheets of "QSDF JKLM" or whatever it was that had to be typed x times before moving on to a slightly more complex pattern. I think the class was graded based on how far you got down the sheet by the end of the hour.

Re: Obama Pledges $4B to Computer Science in US Schools

#136

Post by qb45 »

ethbro wrote: post #123
bobwaycott wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the last thing anyone wants in a school system is some kid accessing porn, or something judged to be equally offensive. I see school tech policies each year. They're never worried about, and rarely ever mention anything that could arguably be interpreted as, prohibiting running unauthorized code. That would require school administrators to know what unauthorized code is.

My curriculum: give a student a laptop with a pornography filter compiled with debugging symbols, a compiler, and a book on reverse engineering and exploiting. Never underestimate the power of hormone-driven learning.

And level 2: implement simple web crawler and combine it with the filter in creative way :)

Re: Obama Pledges $4B to Computer Science in US Schools

#137

Post by qb45 »

devsquid wrote: post #72
sandworm101 wrote: post #69

How much of this will go to good teachers and interesting programs? And how much will simply be spent on overpriced machines (microsoft) and proprietary "connected classroom" concepts (apple)? You don't need much equipment to teach CS. Basic machines will do. And there is no need to spend any money on software these days (f/oss). I worry that this money is less an educational initiative and more a handout to those co…

Man................. You raise a good point. I read the headline and was pretty stoked to see my country reinvesting in itself. But this is US, fuck. I think iPads are wonderful devices, but to think a school would buy them for their students just seems stupid and short sighted. I think Chromebooks offer the most compelling class room solution. They are hyper secure, come with a keyboard, and extremely easy to manage…

Or something like Raspberry Pi. Reimage the SD card from know good master and the machine is good to go.

Who cares if kids install new software or screw something. I'd argue that this is what they actually should be doing, instead of running some crap overpriced "educational software" on locked-down hardware.

Re: Obama Pledges $4B to Computer Science in US Schools

#138

Post by qb45 »

sandworm101 wrote: post #126
bobwaycott wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the last thing anyone wants in a school system is some kid accessing porn, or something judged to be equally offensive. I see school tech policies each year. They're never worried about, and rarely ever mention anything that could arguably be interpreted as, prohibiting running unauthorized code. That would require school administrators to know what unauthorized code is.

Can I download a linux distro via a bittorrent client, then boot into that distro? Can run metasploit on a school machine attached to the school network? There are plenty of things worse these days than kids downloading porn. Top of the list: kids creating porn. Terrorism, bomb threats, malware, cyberstalking, organizing flashmobs ... there are plenty of ways for kids to cause real trouble for a school far beyond the…

Guess what, I did run metasploit (and more) on school network. Nobody died.

And the fact is, if more people started exploiting things, things would get fixed. It's not 2000 anymore when neither vendors nor users gave any fuck about security. Nowadays metasploit doesn't turn you into as much of a god as it used to :)

And "creating porn, bomb threats, cyberstalking" - come on, anybody who wants that, can do that without school-provided computers. And yet few people actually do.

Re: Obama Pledges $4B to Computer Science in US Schools

#139

Post by gravypod »

Twirrim wrote: post #83
sandworm101 wrote: post #69

How much of this will go to good teachers and interesting programs? And how much will simply be spent on overpriced machines (microsoft) and proprietary "connected classroom" concepts (apple)? You don't need much equipment to teach CS. Basic machines will do. And there is no need to spend any money on software these days (f/oss). I worry that this money is less an educational initiative and more a handout to those co…

According to the National Center for Education Statistics there were 98,817 public schools in 2009-2010 fiscal year. 4 billion / 98,817 = 40k each. So it's not that much money towards it.

From my understanding the money is far from evenly divided.
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