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Martin Leicht

Learning to Think Like a Computer - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ng-students-computer-code.html

slack coding computational thinking programming code learning think problem

shared by Martin Leicht on 05 Apr 17 - No Cached
  • all-important concept in computer science — abstraction — in terms of milkshakes
  • The idea of abstraction,” he said, “is to hide the details.” It requires recognizing patterns and distilling complexity into a precise, clear summary
  • Concealing layers of information makes it possible to get at the intersections of things
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  • In particular, “computational thinking” is captivating educators, from kindergarten teachers to college professors, offering a new language and orientation to tackle problems in other areas of life.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 05 Apr 17
       
      a computer follow a logical flow, so by breaking down the steps and working through the process you learn a "logic" if you will. This process can then be applied to other non computing challenges as a problem solving exercise.
  • Computer Science Principles, focused not on learning to code but on using code to solve problems.
  • computational thinking — its broad usefulness as well as what fits in the circle. Skills typically include recognizing patterns and sequences, creating algorithms, devising tests for finding and fixing errors, reducing the general to the precise and expanding the precise to the general.
Brian C. Smith

Computer Science Should Supplement, not Supplant Science Education - 0 views

nstacommunities.org/...not-supplant-science-education

computer science science NGSS CSTA

shared by Brian C. Smith on 18 Oct 16 - No Cached
  • In the integrated STEM classroom, using the principles of NGSS, educators are working to seek out real-world, relevant, authentic problems that would be of interest to students and ask them to apply computational thinking to solve the problem using data analysis, visualization, seeking patterns, and computation.
  • And as everyone knows, time in the school schedule is VERY limited and providing computer science as on a separate track cuts the instructional time pie even more, and sets up another silo in high schools.
Martin Leicht

Where Non-Techies Can Get With the Programming - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...mputer-programming-coding.html

slack coding computational thinking programming learn code

shared by Martin Leicht on 05 Apr 17 - No Cached
  • They aren’t going to become programmers, but they realize these are skills that will make them better lawyers
  • for example, learn to write short, tailored programs that can identify clusters of words and concepts in Supreme Court rulings more accurately than a Google search
  • Code, it seems, is the lingua franca of the modern economy.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 05 Apr 17
       
      BIg data, by using code you fine tune your search and pull in the data/information you need.
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  • One recent institutional adaptation is the creation of so-called CS+X initiatives at schools like Stanford, Northwestern and the University of Illinois. These programs are hybrid majors that combine computing with other disciplines, including anthropology, comparative literature and history — a nod to the reality that software skills can advance research in nearly every field.
  • Today, at many universities, at least half of the student population takes the intro courses.
  • coding as a window to “computational thinking,” which involves abstract reasoning, modeling and breaking down problems into the recipelike steps of an algorithm
Brian C. Smith

How Silicon Valley Pushed Coding Into American Classrooms - The New York Times - 0 views

www.nytimes.com/...ce-coding-apple-microsoft.html

shared by Brian C. Smith on 29 Jun 17 - No Cached
  • “It is essential that efforts to increase computer science instruction, kindergarten through career, be driven by the needs of industry and be developed in partnership with industry.”
    • Brian C. Smith
      Brian C. Smith on 29 Jun 17
       
      The danger in this statement is that it says computer science instruction. It has little regard for how students learn or their interests. It is all about industry and jobs. If corporate and industry partners want to help, they must take a backseat to qualified educators, not the other way around. We CAN and MUST do better than industries seeking self-serving initiatives.
  • “They are collaborative partners.”
    • Brian C. Smith
      Brian C. Smith on 29 Jun 17
       
      Another slippery statement. What knowledge and understanding to industry partners have regarding how children learn? Industry perspective seems to always be that they see training as learning. Most coding platforms being promoted are designed to program the child. The difference between programming the computer and programming the child is a powerful idea that we must discuss in depth and know well. Otherwise, we lose out on the most meaningful and powerful learning experiences we could provide.
  • “We have a lot of debate in this country about how to teach,” he said, “and not enough debate about what to teach.”
    • Brian C. Smith
      Brian C. Smith on 29 Jun 17
       
      Not enough talk about how to learn and how to learn it. Some will say they are one in the same, that's simply not true. Teaching implies something teachers do to students (who may or may not yet be learners). While teaching requires students, learning does not require a teacher or teaching. Learning is the consequence of experience and any teaching designed should reflect this powerful idea. When we leave the decisions about how and what to teach to those outside of education, because they are the area "experts", it becomes about the topic and not the child. We will always fail with that approach.
Brian C. Smith

technology - Practical Theory - 0 views

practicaltheory.org/...technology-2

technology modernlearning

shared by Brian C. Smith on 13 Apr 17 - No Cached
  • We need to understand that until we stop fetishizing technology by making it the focal point of the work every time we pull it out of the closet, we will never move past the notion of “technology integration” to a place of “modern learning.”
  • The idea that technology must be invisible in school is simply this: Using technology to inquire, to create, to share, to research, to learn is not and should not be notable anymore. It should simply be a matter of course.Using technology in school is not the point – learning is.
  • There are still moments when we learn about the technology itself, and that’s a good thing. Whether it is in a computer science class where students are learning to program, or it is in a technology infusion workshop where we help students to learn how to fully integrate the technology into their sense of themselves as a student and citizen, there are moments where we — student and teachers — make the invisible visible.
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  • both students and teachers should have moments of reflection of how the tools affect the learning. But there’s a big leap between understanding how the tool both is vital to and transformative to the work and making the work always about the tool.
  • Brian C. Smith on 13 Apr 17
     
    Lehmann offers an important context for thinking about learning in a technology-rich world.
Martin Leicht

It's 'digital heroin': How screens turn kids into psychotic junkies | New York Post - 0 views

nypost.com/...rn-kids-into-psychotic-junkies

screen management parent parenting addiction digital tablets children 1:1 laptops heroin mangement

shared by Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16 - No Cached
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      Signs/signals being sent to the parent. "It's educational" is a reasonable excuse, yet does it trump parenting technique/skill?
  • As his behavior continued to deteriorate, she tried to take the game away but John threw temper tantrums. His outbursts were so severe that she gave in, still rationalizing to herself over and over again that “it’s educational.”
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      Is too much of any one thing, e.g., baseball, food, study, computers, etc., a good idea?
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  • Many parents intuitively understand that ubiquitous glowing screens are having a negative effect on kids. We see the aggressive temper tantrums when the devices are taken away and the wandering attention spans when children are not perpetually stimulated by their hyper-arousing devices.
  • Recent brain imaging research is showing that they affect the brain’s frontal cortex — which controls executive functioning, including impulse control — in exactly the same way that cocaine does. Technology is so hyper-arousing that it raises dopamine levels — the feel-good neurotransmitter most involved in the addiction dynamic — as much as sex.
  • “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” to be especially true when it comes to tech addiction.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      When do we as parents act? Or is it more a partnership going forward? Yes, we (schools) asked students to use these devices. And we must do are bit to help students manage/cope. At the same time, parents need to be aware too. I know we all want to be liked as parents. In today's modern family, life is complex. Yet, I come to the conclusion that I am not my son's friend. There's going to be a lot of actions/directives he will not like. And yes, I will need to do a lot of work to get us through it, yet isn't that my job as a parent to deal with the changes as they come in order to guide him toward adulthood?
  • According to a 2013 Policy Statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics, 8- to 10 year-olds spend 8 hours a day with various digital media while teenagers spend 11 hours in front of screens. One in three kids are using tablets or smartphones before they can talk
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      1 in 3 before they can talk are using tablets? Okay, this is an interesting statement. Is it supervised use? How long? I would ask the question, why? We as parents make a lot of interesting choices as parents and we all need to stop and reflect on those choices often. If it is before they can talk, then it is definitely not the school asking/requiring the device.
  • Once a person crosses over the line into full-blown addiction — drug, digital or otherwise — they need to detox before any other kind of therapy can have any chance of being effective.
  • So how do we keep our children from crossing this line? It’s not easy.
  • That means Lego instead of Minecraft; books instead of iPads; nature and sports instead of TV
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      Great strategy, active parenting. I would suggest, cooking, surfing, and any activity involving ones hands. Of course, do parents have time for this?
  • When I speak to my 9-year-old twin boys, I have honest conversations with them about why we don’t want them having tablets or playing video games.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      I like the "conversations" point. Not one, many conversations.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      Another great strategy. I would add, the conversation is on going. The author references the distracted parent syndrome above, that one is key!
  • Developmental psychologists understand that children’s healthy development involves social interaction, creative imaginative play and an engagement with the real, natural world.
    • Martin Leicht
      Martin Leicht on 07 Sep 16
       
      Moderation, no? Does not the standby wisdom that everything in moderation apply here too?
  • Thus the solution is often to help kids to connect to meaningful real-life experiences and flesh-and-blood relationships. The engaged child tethered to creative activities and connected to his or her family is less likely to escape into the digital fantasy world.
  • Brian C. Smith on 27 Sep 16
     
    Yeah, this is why the Reggio Emilia Approach and maker-centered learning is excellent. The blending of the digital and physical world to learn nearly anything on any topic and beyond. Kids might spend more time with devices in activities stemming from maker-centered learning, but it isn't all on the device and it provides alternative ways of knowing, understanding, and doing. We, the adults, are ultimately responsible for creating the conditions for this to be so. Papert has taught us this decades ago. I don't know why we don't study his work among the others that have known this for a very long time. Isn't it time to do so with the technology group?
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