[plt-edu] Re: [plt-scheme] behaviour of void?

If you examine any of the technical disciplines, students in those disciplines would be much more effective with a knowledge of the programming principles laid out in htdp.  In physics, I could have save much time with a knowledge of computing.  Bioinformatics is almost completely a computer discipline. I'm convinced that one or two software courses in an engineering discipline is not sufficient.  If drscheme could be turned into a general purpose environment that could handle large amounts of computation, it would make a perfect integrating language.

My son, who characterized himself as a "non math person" in 7th grade and who was earning low B's and C's now earns perfect scores on his honors math exams.  His success is a combination of tutoring and programming as well as a decision on his part to excel.  But I believe that to a large degree, the skills he learned using htdp made the difference.  I believe that when he goes to study engineering, he will benefit from what he learned.



--- On Sun, 2/15/09, Richard Cleis <rcleis at mac.com> wrote:

> From: Richard Cleis <rcleis at mac.com>
> Subject: Re: [plt-edu] Re: [plt-scheme] behaviour of void?
> To: geb_a at yahoo.com
> Cc: "Grant Rettke" <grettke at acm.org>, plt-scheme at list.cs.brown.edu
> Date: Sunday, February 15, 2009, 6:59 PM
> On Feb 15, 2009, at 6:37 PM, geb a wrote:
> 
> > 
> > 
> > Yes, the focus is on htdp with advanced students
> working on projects that use programming in other
> disciplines.  I really believe that computer science should
> be central to a strong technical background.  In fact, a
> computer science student should be able to compute circles
> around any other student.
> 
> Are you saying that graduates of other disciplines should
> know more of what CS graduates know?  Or are you saying that
> CS graduates should be able to implement better software for
> the other disciplines than the disciplines can muster
> themselves?  In my world, it seems that overall
> effectiveness doesn't match up to our considerable
> individual abilities because it is nearly impossible to mix
> & match the resources of all of the disciplines.  It
> would be wonderful if the tech disciplines knew more about
> CS, but I don't see that ever happening.  I do hope for
> the day when more effective overlapping of expertise comes
> to pass.
> 
> rac
> 
> > 
> > 
> > Dan Anderson
> > 
> > 
> > --- On Sat, 2/14/09, Grant Rettke
> <grettke at acm.org> wrote:
> > 
> >> From: Grant Rettke <grettke at acm.org>
> >> Subject: Re: [plt-edu] Re: [plt-scheme] behaviour
> of void?
> >> To: geb_a at yahoo.com
> >> Cc: "Prabhakar Ragde"
> <plragde at uwaterloo.ca>, "Matthias Felleisen"
> <matthias at ccs.neu.edu>, "plt edu"
> <plt-edu at list.cs.brown.edu>, "Shriram
> Krishnamurthi" <sk at cs.brown.edu>, "PLT
> List" <plt-scheme at list.cs.brown.edu>
> >> Date: Saturday, February 14, 2009, 8:35 PM
> >> On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 8:23 PM, geb a
> >> <geb_a at yahoo.com> wrote:
> >>> So what kinds of exercises are you looking
> for?  I
> >> guess I'm in the unique position of being able
> to use
> >> programming to teach Science, Technology,
> Engineering and
> >> Mathematics projects.   As a high school teacher,
> I feel
> >> like computer science should be about integrating
> these
> >> disciplines.
> >> 
> >> I wish I had gone to school where you teach. Is it
> common
> >> practice for
> >> highschools these days to include CS? What is your
> title?
> >> CS teacher?
> > 
> > 
> > 
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