Education and Computing最新文献

There is room for improvement in the way introductory computer science is taught. In general, most of the available time is spent on teaching programming language syntax and very little on studying examples of good programs. The assertion approach to program verification has in practice resulted in a technique that resembles assembly code programming of more than 30 years ago. This practice has also encouraged the view that each new program is an invention that must be developed from scratch. In addition, the student's attention is largely directed towards the how of the technique and hardly towards learning the proven facts. In this paper, it is argued that the introduction to programming can be improved in several ways: by starting with a systems view that encourages students to study good examples and to reuse existing programs, by judging program quality relative to similar programs and program abstractions, and by building up a coherent body of knowledge that students can apply in program design and implementation.

PRINT, the PRoject for Implementation of New Technologies in the Netherlands stands for an integrated conception supplying computers, standardization of software and training/counselling.

The project focuses on the introduction of computers in 9500 schools for Primary and Special Education over a period of four years, from September 1990 until December 1994.

The important points of action for PRINT are:

• (1)

  the development of training-courses for schools,

• (2)

  the development of courseware for existing methods of pupil training,

• (3)

  the construction of a regional support structure in order to “back-up” the introduction,

• (4)

  the development of a suitable advisory and information system.

This contribution concerns the conference topic “What kind of support do teachers need when introducing computers in their classrooms?” In this short report, I shall describe the results of a research carried out concurrently by teachers and researchers in Belgium and in Quebec (Canada). Our principal aim was to analyze the adaptation and integration processes of a multimedia package created to help teachers to introduce computers in their classrooms: an “Ensemble Didactique d'Intégration Pédagogique de L'Ordinateur” (edipo) [2].

The analyses allow us to describe:

• -

  Conditions to implement this kind of computer-based pedagogical environment in primary schools.

• -

  How teachers have managed their environment.

This report will relate the analyses realized by the team of teachers and researchers.

A tension is emerging in academia between those who view computing as a science and those who view computing as an emerging engineering discipline. By the year 2000, computing may separate into two academic disciplines, software engineering and computer science, paralleling the split of computer science from mathematics in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Educators must recognize the true needs of the practitioner community, or risk fragmenting and weakening the still new and rapidly evolving field of computing. Actions today will determine if computing will compete with or be subsumed by software engineering, rather than complement it.

This paper traces the evolution of the first courses in undergraduate programs over the last twelve years. We identify fundamental weaknesses in the present sequence, and propose strengthening the introductory curriculum, using a breadth-first approach that integrates theoretical material.

Emphasis is placed on the failure to devote sufficient resources to the study of information systems and the engineering of information systems, bringing computer technology to bear on the organization and management of modern society. Universities and like institutions have a growing responsibility to train information system engineers (and their academic counterparts), training which is at least as urgent as that of computer scientists. A brief account is included of progress in the UK.