So…Ive somehow ended up a high school computer teacher. Thats pretty terrifying. And I could really use some doper creativity to help me meet these challenges.
The hard part is that I am now a high school computer teacher in Africa. Which means Ive got to come up with a year long cirriculum, in French (which Ive studied all of ten weeks) and with nearly nothing. I mean the kids dont have paper. There are no books anywhere- in my possession or the kids. The classrooms dont have lights or windows. There are often more than a hundred kids in a classroom. There is a small computer lab at my school, but I think the kids will be lucky to get there once a week. Many of them dont have basic skills like using a mouse. And those long hours lecturing in computerless classrooms are getting pretty hard to fill. You can only draw so many pictures of computer programs on chalkoards.
Ive had a lot of success with teaching stuff like bianary- the school system here is very good at teaching kids calculation based stuff. Ive also had success with anything that gets the kids out of their chairs, like having them simulate being parts of a computer. I’ve found a really good pdf about teaching computers without computers that is all activity and game based, and stuff from there has been a hit. But it’s not enough for a full year.
Do any of you have any ideas? Or do you know of any good Internet resources (or good books- its somewhat possible to have books sent here). Id really appreciate any ideas you have. Thanks!
Have you considered teaching information literacy type stuff? You know, talking about Copyright Law, how to identify a good resource (paper or electronic), where to look for information . . . that sort of stuff?
I don’t know how well it would work-- given the lack of those resources which you have mentioned, but it might be something to help round out your curriculum.
Can you get some donations of broken computers and a) use them to teach about parts then b) have the kids attempt to fix them, or at least determine what is wrong with them through diagnostics?
Another way to fill a lecture or 2 might be with guest speakers. Can you get people who work with computers to come in and spend a day telling your kids about their jobs?
It wouldn’t hurt to write to the major computer companies’ community relations departments to see if they have any materials they’d be willing to donate.
Younger students might enjoy building models of computers out of available materials.
I bet if you find the right people to ask in France or Canada (libraries, churches, schools?), someone has used books and magazines about computers in French that they’d be glad to send you. National Geographic has articles about computers sometimes, and you know how those build up in the Western world…
You are facing an awesome challenge here and I know you’ll do us Dopers proud!
For real basics, you can practice typing on a broken keyboard, whether or not it’s hooked up to anything. It’s not as good as the real thing, but if you’re willing to take it slow, it’s quite effective. While the kids are beginning, you can have them check each other on standard phrases. Are you near an area with any local affluence? Could you get broken keyboards? Once you get basic proficiency, you can practice typing on nothing at all. I increased my typing speed by about 30 wpm in high school because I used to “type” the teacher’s lecture on my desk or on a book in my lap when I was bored.
For more advanced stuff, how about teaching them some basic programming?
You said they don’t have paper. Is there anything to write on? A shared blackboard or something?
You could use a very limited subset of a scripting language like python. There’s a whole lot you can do with variables, a while loop, and a print statement (well, everything, technically). Between trips to the computer lab, you can have them critique each others programs and step through the execution mentally to see how a computer actually works (and, then, of course, they’ll see all the stuff they accidentally did wrong once they run it on the actual computer).