[ubuntu-uk] (Marketing) Royal Society asks you - why IT is boring?

[Matt Sturdy]

On 26 August 2010 09:37, Matthew Daubney <matt at daubers.co.uk> wrote:

> On Thu, 2010-08-26 at 07:10 +0100, alan c wrote:
> > or nearly that, anyway.....
> >
> > Article:
> > Royal Society opens inquiry into why kids hate tech
> > Lessons that is, not games, mobiles, Facebook:
> >
> > http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/08/25/royal_society_schools_computing/
> >
> > 'exam results have shown computing subjects are failing to grab kids'
> > attention'
> >
> > Could it be that a strong bias towards proprietary products is not
> > inspiring students?
> > Would more appreciation of Free Software in education enable better
> > use of talents?
> >
> > Express your views to the Royal Society soon.
> > http://royalsociety.org/Education-Policy/Projects/
> >
> > --
> > alan cocks
> > Ubuntu user
> >
>
> My experience of GCSE IT was that it was "This is Microsoft Word, write
> a 2 page document including a table, a graphic and a footnote." which is
> _not_ what IT should be about. I lost _huge_ amounts of marks in one
> part because the project was "Create 4 linked webpages in Microsoft
> Front Page blah blah blah" which would have been a nightmare for any
> sane person to maintain, so I wrote it in PHP with a SQL backend and
> none of the markers understood it :(
>
> IT should be more about computers less about office work!
>
> -Matt Daubney
>
>
> --
> ubuntu-uk at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk
> https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UKTeam/
>


I attended an excellent school for GCSE/A-Level and had a very similar
experience, and consequently had absolutely no interest in computing until
after I had finished my degree.  The thing that got me hooked was problem
solving.  Having an issue, researching it, and then fixing it is one of the
most satisfying things for me, and I guess for a lot of you guys too.
 Furthermore it teaches you to take any problem (even problems IRL!), and
break it down into manageable, logical steps, and I think that's a great
skill to foster.

I don't know, so I'm asking... Is there any time given to this in the
current GCSE syllabus?  In my mind teaching kids an attitude and approach
towards solving a problem is what should be concentrated on.

I think it could be difficult to assess and grade students on, and that is
something that would need to be considered... and I guess there are plenty
of other issues too, but I think it would be an excellent place to start.


Matt
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