Re: Evolution

From: The Half A Wannabee (ShakainZulu_AT_Ozzy_DMX_ODB_&_C_NowWhereToRun_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 11/19/03 

Date: Wed, 19 Nov 2003 23:03:08 +0100

"Randall Hyde" <randall.hyde@ustraffic.net> wrote in message
news:3bdf3632.0311191238.1db9ec01@posting.google.com...
> Herbert Kleebauer <klee@unibwm.de> wrote in message
news:<3FBB743E.2146D6AF@unibwm.de>...
> >
> Cheers,
> Randy Hyde

When reading you long reply, my head started wondering about what I would
have done with a class of 20 students for 10 weeks in order to teach them
programming. I wondered, that I might before the semester began, planned a
real application. A small assembler or a minimum OS or some other not that
big Application, maybe a word processor for windows, or a spread***,
whatever, but a real life application, possible for them to complete.

Plan it out top to bottom, devide the work to be done on 20 units. Descripe
each pupils responsibility area, with a description of the problem each
should solve to make the whole program work. Then give each the assignment
on the first day to complete their part of the "Project" before the semester
was done.

They would have to work together, and the knowledgeable one would maybe
offer help to the lesser knowledgable ones. They would learn to team up, to
met a deadline, and the fact that someone wanted their code, would give them
a strong motivation to deliver. The teacher would only need to be available
for questions, not to actively preach. The students would now drive their
own learning experiment, eager to complete their particular assignment not
to screw up the whole project. And at the end of the semester they would all
have part in a project that actually could be used for something. Maybe they
could even market the products they made.

Do you think an approach like this would be possible ?