Re: [school-discuss] Dyslexia and Programming

[LM <lmemsm@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, Oct 12, 2012 at 8:46 AM, Dirk Schouten <d.schouten@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Some comments.
>
>> young
>> children have absolutely no idea what is possible,
>
> I agree. The same goes with adults by the way. So, that cannot be the
> problem.
>
> < and don't have any
>> sense of scope, i.e. "this is hard, this is easy".
>
> I agree for the same reason as above.

Isn't that part of the learning process, to find out what's feasible
and what's not?  One important part of programming is to be able to
think logically and translate what you want into something a computer
can understand.  A computer is only a tool, not an intelligent entity
at this point.  So, garbage in, garbage out.  Even with the best
expert systems (applications designed for a particular task such as
diagnosing diseases or writing code for you) if you don't know know
what's going on underneath and you put garbage in, you'll get garbage
out for results.  Learning what can be done and what it takes to get
it done (man hour estimates, tools needed both hardware and software,
etc.) is an important skill that I think most businesses value and
appreciate.  One of the best ways to learn what's feasible or not is
by trial and error.  With actual experience, you find out what works
and what doesn't.  Also, why should we limit people as to what they
can invent?  Okay, some people may work best if you tell them it can't
be done, because they'll be motivated to find a way.  However, with
some students, if you say you must do things a certain way and only
certain things are possible, they'll take it in on authority that's
the way it has to be in your class.  That was the biggest reason I
disliked learning any creative activities in school (such as writing,
programming, art, etc.).  If you let students reach for the stars,
they may just surprise you and find a new way to get there.
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