[plt-scheme] Re: Poacher turned gamekeeper
On Nov 9, 5:02 pm, Matthias Felleisen <matth... at ccs.neu.edu> wrote:
> On Nov 9, 2009, at 10:43 AM, Stephen Bloch wrote:
>
>
>
> >> 3. Assuming that the majority can't solve it, proceed with 'in
> >> decent colleges, this kind of stuff is taught in the first course.'
>
> > Or you could NOT open with antagonism and NOT run down the students'
> > previous teachers and background. Instead, I would say "for those
> > of you who have done some programming before, we'll be doing it a
> > little differently; this approach may seem weird to you at first,
> > but in my experience, it helps you produce correct, working programs
> > faster. Approach it with an open mind, and you can combine the best
> > of both approaches." You'll have to decide, based on your group of
> > students, whether it'll work better to start by showing them how
> > much they don't know.
>
> Just drop the phrase "in decent colleges ..." but conduct the
> experiment anyway. Do tell them that good programmers can solve these
> questions easily and you will teach them how and more about systematic
> programmers.
>
> I repeatedly get students who think that their bad grades in an HtDP
> course are due to the odd choice of language. Over 10+ years, I have
> easily overcome strong versions of such opinions with "no problem.
> What language would you like to use? I'll give you an A for the course
> if you can solve this problem ..." A variation is to do it at the
> beginning and to let people go who can solve such things (give them
> the option). In my 10+ years, I have had ONE student who solved the
> problem in the alotted 30 mins, indeed, he needed much less time and
> he didn't do it in anything modern: he did it in C. He had 15 years of
> experience and no contact to FP. BUT he was a good programmer and he
> wanted to take my course anyway.
>
They are all supposed to be newbies although I imagine some of them
may have had some exposure and will want to know why they are not
learning Java. That will probably be their second course anyway.
They are a captive audience. They do not have the option of dropping
the course.