[plt-scheme] Re: HTDP - evidently not for everyone.

On 12.02.2010 14:42, wooks wrote:
> I don't know if you read my earlier posts. I'm satisfied I have posted
> enough to claim to have tried all that. I've lost count of the number
> of times I have said and shown how much of a program can be written
> just from knowing the data structure. I have repeated whole lectures
> when it is evident they have not grasped an important point.
>
> Let me repeat the essence of what I am seeing.
>
> My students understand sufficiently what is shown in class but cannot
> translate that to the  writing a program (or even a template)
> unaided.  They also cannot cope with a task that is only a slight
> variation from what they have seen and understood in class - like for
> example write count list after being shown and understood how to write
> sum list.

You should distinguish between a passive and an active 
ability/understanding. They are definitely not the same.

In natural languages the passive ability is: "I understand what you're 
saying." Active would be "I can express what I want to say."

I'd translate this to your programming class case like:
Passive: The students understand what you're showing/explaining them.
Active: The students are able to show/explain/reproduce it themselves.

IMHO the only way from passive to active is via practice.

Regards,
Thomas