[racket-dev] "Add Teachpack" dialog can be very confusing

On Apr 1, 2013, at 9:45 AM, Sam Tobin-Hochstadt <samth at ccs.neu.edu> wrote:

> I don't see why middle school students would have more trouble with
> `require` than with any other aspect of the system.

I tend to agree with Sam on this one.  I haven't taught 12-year-old middle school students, but if they can handle (ellipse 50 30 "solid" "purple"), surely they can handle a boilerplate (require picturing-programs) or (require 2htdp/image).

And as Sam points out, even if we keep the "Add Teachpack" dialog, it could work by inserting a "require" into the code.

> Also, WeScheme just provides graphics libraries by default, which is
> another option we could consider.

Bad idea; somebody might want to teach with his/her own version of the graphics libraries.  (I was in this boat before we bundled picturing-programs.)


Stephen Bloch
sbloch at adelphi.edu