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Re: teachers=magicians ?



Let's keep in mind that scientists, even physicists, are more than just
scientists. we are also parents, sibings, neighbors, spouses, people. and
as such should have a decent level of reasoning and communication ability
in many areas. My high school Latin has served me well, as has my early
programming courses. I still think of planning lessons in many of the same
patterns as programming. algorithms. teaching problem solving is easier
if the students understand algorithms. reading even a decent novel is
easier if you've had some Laitn and Greek. When you run across a word you
are unfamiliar with, you can often decode based on L/G pieces.

I wish I had an excuse to teach programming to my El Ed majors for the
logical reasoning it forces.

-Lois


Programming is an excellent way to promote thinking and to
develop good working habits. Knowing where to click does
not contribute much to intellectual development.



I completely agree. They used to say that they taught Latin (and trig?) in
order to promote logical thinking. It seemed to me that Fortran, or Basic,
or Pascal, or whatever would have taught the logic as well as having some
perhaps more practical value than Latin, at least for anyone going into the
sciences.

Now before the flames start, let me say that I took 4 years of Latin in high
school and 2 in college. However, school time being limited, if you're
trying to teach logic, then programming is a good vehicle.

Br. Robert W. Harris
Catholic Memorial High School
rwharris@cath-mem.org
brotherphysics@hotmail.com
http://www.cath-mem.org/physics/contents.htm