| A cross-section of fifteen mathematics and computer science teachers
from Nebraska high schools and community colleges assembled with UNL
computer science chief undergraduate advisor Dr. Charles Riedesel
this June for a weeklong workshop. Some of the teachers have participated
in all three of the annual summer workshop series, which examine issues
in computer science education. The theme this year was "Public-Domain
Languages for Teaching Computer Science in the High School."
The week was spent in discussions, presentations, guided laboratories,
and open laboratories. The opening thesis postulated that the languages
commonly being taught (primarily Visual Basic, C++, and Java) are
not the best languages to use for teaching mathematics and computer
science topics. The constant updates, cost, and intensive teacher
preparation also impair the usefulness of C++, Java, and Visual
Basic for a school setting.
The languages that were studied during the week included Forth,
Lisp and a dialect Scheme, Prolog, and ML. BlueJ, a student oriented
IDE for Java was also included. Only small parts of the languages
were covered: the stack manipulation of Forth, the functional nature
and list structure of Lisp, the declarative logic (rather than imperative)
nature of Prolog, and the powerful data typing capability of ML.
The participants were given tutorials, web addresses for free access
to discussion topics, summary sheets, ideas for incorporating the
material into their courses, and time in the laboratory to practice.
With this material it is expected that anything from small modules
for standard mathematics and computer science courses up to full
course curricula can be developed for their schools.
The Computer Science & Engineering Department at UNL has started
to observe incoming students who have benefited from the knowledge
their teachers attained at past workshops in the series. Organizers
of the workshop hope that this is the start of an innovative trend
that reaches beyond the typical AP Computer Science curriculum.
Plans will soon be completed for next summer's workshop. Those
interested in the upcoming workshops should contact the Center for
Science, Mathematics, and Computer Education by phone at 472-8965
or via email, scimath@unl.edu.
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