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Re: [seul-edu] How to "teach Linux"?



"Stephen C. Daukas" wrote:
Hello again!

As I noted in my "intro" posting, I am scheduled to teach Linux starting
this March 25th.  Being new to public education, I realize I am taking the
proverbial "plunge into the deep end" with this, but that is another story...

I am wondering if anyone is aware of lesson plans, et al., for teaching
UNIX and/or Linux to gifted 11th & 12th graders (or to college freshmen for
that matter) that I could use to gain an understanding of what to cover and
in what detail?

I would like to take the students through the basic structure of
UNIX/Linux, and want to install Red Hat on several machines with them.  I
was thinking of both hands-on (e.g., build a server) and lecture (this is
how the boot process works, etc.).  Short of feeling my way through this,
I'm looking for suggestions from those who have gone down a similar path!

Thanks in advance!
Steve

Steve,
  I'm finishing a Fundamentals of Linux course at the community college level.  For gifted 11th and 12th graders my lessons might give you a guide to get started.  The lessons are at www.linuxindayton.com.   This offering is the 4th time for this class and it went very well.  The students have become hooked on Linux and are ready to use Linux on their own.

From past experiences, I found that building exercises that engage the students has worked best.  Some students wanted to work in teams which also worked well.  The exercises in the beginning were more detailed because the student's knowledge base was weak.  Each exercise was carefully choosen to teach some basic skills that help them complete an exciting task.  Over time, the student learns more and more details about Linux without getting bored.  The first couple of times I taught the course, I taught command line as a block, boot and start up processes, etc.   I found that the students became bored and started to loose interested.  To avoid this, I developed materials that required the students to learn the parts necessary to complete interesting tasks.  This worked well.  Of course, there are moments that occur when I had to lecture and provide a overview and bring things together.

Good Luck with your class.  Gifted students are always fun to teach.  They are usually very motivated but get bored quickly.

Best Regards,
Art