Subj : Re: Is BASIC to be regarded as less than reputable prog lang?
To   : tenser
From : Bob Worm
Date : Sun Jul 14 2024 14:14:03

  Re: Re: Is BASIC to be regarded as less than reputable prog lang?
  By: tenser to Bob Worm on Mon Jul 15 2024 00:40:12

Hi, tenser.

 > The problem was that, while the ideas are powerful, you have to
 > be an expert at computers to successfully transfer them to
 > computers, and where I think the LOGO effort failed was in
 > getting _teachers_ well-enoughed versed in the technology _and_
 > the underly pedagogical theory to be able to use it successfully.

Oh, absolutely. One of my good friends is 10 years older than me and I'm sure he mentioned using the turtle in school - this was a different school where presumably there was at least one teacher keen enough to learn the technology and share it with the pupils. Meanwhile in my school the IT knowledge was so minimal that I remember being called out of class at 7 or 8 years old to go and fix a printer for another teacher (and that probably just involved flipping the lever from friction feed to tractor feed).

My wife taught in a primary school for a few years and I think the general "background" level of technology comfort had got to the point where the least technology literate were easily showing very young children how to draw things with the "roamer" bot. I think that was a self-contained educational version of a Big Trak, though, rather than being connected to a computer. I imagine that would be thought of as arcane now, nearly 20 years on.

You seem to know a lot about this, I assume you must either be in or have some strong association with computer science in academia?

Thanks for the detailed response - very interesting.

Cheers,

BobW
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
 * Origin: >>> Magnum BBS <<< - bbs.magnum.uk.net (21:1/205)

.