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Programming primer

Author: prof. Marina Čičin Šain

When to start with programming?

<font 10.0pt/inherit;;inherit;;inherit>My first steps in programming were at a computer centre in Croatia in 1968 after graduating theoretical mathematics at University of Zagreb, where I started my career as a programmer trainee. In those days, when only a few did use computers, I was really lucky of having an opportunity to start programming in my early twenties. The question is:When is the best time to start with programming? The answer is very simple: the earlier the better. Some students start definitely too late, for instance some at secondary schools, some at universities and some after school completion. Therefore, they have to acquire a lot of facts in a very limited time, and this always causes a problem, even though the facts are simple.</font>

<font 10.0pt/inherit;;inherit;;inherit>Children can be confronted with some basic elements of programming as early as at the age of starting primary school. It might be considered too early, and too hard for little children to learn programming, especially by those who assume programming as something difficult and too complex for the little ones.</font>

<font 10.0pt/inherit;;inherit;;inherit>However, here we would like to remind the suspicious ones of a one-year-old child’s capability of starting to speak that is a precondition for reading.. Although a little child is not learning alphabet by being exposed to reading complicated texts, later on read at adult stage, both children and adults use the same letters either for reading nursery rhymes, fairy tales or scientific papers.</font>

<font 10.0pt/inherit;;inherit;;inherit>Not far back in history only the privileged were taught to read and write, and it was generally acceptable ( if not desirable) for common people to be illiterate. Nowadays, thanks to the improved teaching methods, even people with serious mental impairment are not only literate, but are taught different subjects as to develop specific skills and acquire knowledge to exert their utmost capabilities. Therefore, there is no reason to make any exception for programming. The point is that it should be done in a way that children can accept programming. Unfortunately, none of programming languages are tailored to suit children at early stage, either being too difficult, or too lopped. Thus, most children learn to use computers without actually learning programming, or in most cases, they use some programs with limited or no explanation of how a particular program works. We believe it should be changed,because it is as possible to acquire programming in such a natural way as acquiring reading skills by using picture-books, acquiring foreign languages by listening and singing nursery-rhymes or acquiring counting by playing “Home You Go”. The author of these lines developed a method of teaching children the use and behaviour of variables in RAM, and the basis of coding in 1980. Everything was done by using a toy called Mema made by children themselves.</font>


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Slika 1. Djeca sama izrađuju igračku “Memu” - dva primjera: pretinci su obojani drugom bojom odnosno imenovani različim imenima

Nastavu o toj tematici mogla im je držati njihova učiteljica koja o računalima nije morala znati ništa ili skoro ništa. Roditelje takva nastava nije koštala ni Kune, odnosno u ono vrijeme dinara. Djeca su naučila mnogo toga o programiranju. Tako su naučili da postoji program, da je on sastavljen od naredbi, da je redoslijed naredbi važan, da neke naredbe učitavaju brojeve u memoriju, da neke druge računaju sa varijablama ili brojevima (konstantama), da broj može biti tako velik, da ne stane u varijablu (overflow) da novi sadržaj varijable zamjenjuje stari…

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Slika 2. Djeca pomoću igrače “Meme” bez računala uče programirati.

Spontano su nadograđivali znanje kako se u neke varijable kumuliraju vrijednosti, da dva računala mogu biti nekompatibilna….

Ako sam vas makar malo zaintrigirala to je odlično. Možda ću obrisati prašinu sa starih papira i igračaka i možda ću za vas ponovo oživiti priču koja me je i prije toliko godina fascinirala. Ako nisam pokušati ću sa još nečim.

Metodu koju spominjem pokušala sam oživiti u jednoj riječkoj školi prije više od trideset godina.

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Slika 3. Učenici s učiteljicom Majom Mulac (1980. godine).

Učiteljica je bila oduševljena djeca također, iskustva sam opisala u par stručnih i znanstvenih radova i osim toga nije se dogodilo skoro ništa. Ali ipak, nakon 6-7 godina nazvao me je nastavnik koji je u spomenutoj školi držao tehnički odgoj i u sklopu toga programiranje u Basicu za osme razrede. On mi je rekao da učenici iz jednog od četiri osma razreda puno lakše savladavaju Basic, nego ostala tri. U dogovoru s tim nastavnikom provela sam istraživanje u sva četiri razreda. Rezultat je bio fantastičan! Znanje programiranja u razredu koji je po prije spomenutoj metodi radio nekoliko sati u prvom razredu bilo je statistički značajno bolje od preostala tri razreda!. Što bi tek bilo da su nastavili sa radom kontinuirano!

Opet je taj rezultat bio objavljen u obliku znanstvenog rada i, pogađate, iza toga ništa. A mislim da bi iza toga moglo biti svašta i to puno toga lijepoga i dobroga. Možda sam radi toga pokušala još jednom, ovim stranicama. Na to me motivirala suradnja sa profesoricom Snježanom Babić, mojom bivšom studenticom i činjenica da se i na razini Europe javila inicijativa koja u mojem srcu nekad plamti, a nekad tinja već više od trideset godina.

Marina Čičin-Šain

Opis metode

Na sljedećoj stranici možete pročitati: OPIS METODE.

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