KW>Hello Sheila!
KW>Replying to a message of Sheila King to Bob Anderson:
KW> SK> texts don't look so hot. I know the turtles may not be that inspiring
KW> SK> either, but it is a chance to do something other than mathematical
KW> SK> computations and string manipulation.
KW>Yeah, but they are being examined on mathematical computations and string
KW>manipulation also.  HEAVILY!
By the time the school year is over, I envision having covered string
manipulations thoroughly. As for math...the math prereq for our course
as put in place by the previous instructor was very vague (it reads like
this: PreRequisite: A "B" in math...my question...WHAT math?). I would
like to assume that all of my students will have had at least Algebra
II, but I don't know if that will actually pan out.
I flipped through the 1992 Computer Science "A" exam after reading this
message from you a few nights ago, and I didn't really see a heavy
emphasis on math.
Of course, the Large Integer Case Study will require a good
understanding of math, but really only some basic concepts, I think. I
wish our regular math students were exposed to some of this stuff at an
earlier age...like 9th grade or so. I bet they'd have a better
understanding of operations in general.
KW>I tried introducing graphpics last year, early.  Many of my students went 
of
KW>on that tangent instead of being focused on things required for the test.
What type of graphics did you do? I can't imagine my kids getting that
"wowed" about turtle graphics.
KW>The good news, is that the long int free response case study, is an ideal 
ca
KW>study, you can start with it almost immediately in the school year, and 
give
KW>small doses, unlike the previous case study, which could really only be
KW>understood after having everything.  Also gives you the opportunity to
KW>introduce abstraction early.
I will be introducing Data Abstraction early with my Turtle Unit. Well,
maybe that's not so accurate. All of the parameters passed to the turtle
are pretty much integers. Hmm.
I did do some programming with the Large Integer Case Study this past
week at the workshop. It really DOES require an understanding of
abstract data types. I can just see students already trying to add two
variables of type LongInt with the addition operator. ;-)
BTW, I learned this week that the AP Board will be using the Long
Integer Case study for the next three years. It will last one year into
the C++ conversion. How do you feel about that? Do you already know C++?
Several of the experienced APCS teachers at this workshop last week were
trying to learn (at least some of) C++ and I sat in on a few of the
lectures for that language. It seems to me that it is going to be very
difficult for a lot of teachers to learn, and that APCS scores are going
to be VERY low in 1999.
Sheila
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