Racket / [B]SL / HTDP in a workshop context

[Yury Bulka]

Dear Racket community,

I'm wondering whether any guidelines / methodology exist out there on
using Racket and/or the student languages as a learning environment in a
workshop context (specifically aimed at introducing non-programmers to
programming and problem solving in a HTDP spirit).

The idea of such a hypothetical workshop is to have two or three
sessions with a small group (5-7 participants), and to reach a point in
the end where they are comfortable with reasoning about the how a
program evaluates and how to use functions to encapsulate simple
problems and solutions, possibly in this 5-step process:
http://htdp.org/2020-8-1/Book/part_preface.html#%28counter._%28figure._fig~3athe-design-recipe%29%29

Is this too ambitious plan at all? Does it require _way_ more time or is
it doable?

Thank you for any thoughts,
--
Yury Bulka
https://mamot.fr/@setthemfree
#NotOnFacebook

[Yury Bulka]

Thanks for the feedback. In my case, most likely, the participants will
be around 16-22 years old, no particular specialisation but curious
about programming.

--
Yury Bulka
https://mamot.fr/@setthemfree
#NotOnFacebook

John Clements <clem...@brinckerhoff.org> writes:

> My opinion: it depends on lots of things, but I think the biggest one is the makeup of your audience. If they’re (say) a bunch of retired accountants that are passionate about understanding how programs work and have lots of time to follow up after your sessions and possibly some “office hours” after the fact, I think you might “click” with ten to twenty percent of them.
>
> This probably goes without saying, but in three sessions, you’re not going to be building expertise; you’re (hopefully) going to be building the excitement and laying the foundation for them to learn on their own.
>
> All just my opinions, of course!
>
> John

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[Yury Bulka]

> 1) “authenticity”; will the participants feel that programming in
> Racket is “real” programming?
Do you mean as opposed to a more popular language like Python or
JavaScript? Or in some other regard (like building GUI apps)?

--
Yury Bulka
https://mamot.fr/@setthemfree
#NotOnFacebook



John Clements <clem...@brinckerhoff.org> writes:

> In that case, I would think carefully about
>
> 1) “authenticity”; will the participants feel that programming in Racket is “real” programming?
> 2) How you’d like the participants to engage with the material after the workshop. Their motivation and time availability are both likely to be low (well, maybe that’s just my own experience :))
>
> John

[Yury Bulka]

John Clements <clem...@brinckerhoff.org> writes:
>> Do you mean as opposed to a more popular language like Python or
>> JavaScript? Or in some other regard (like building GUI apps)?
>

> The former, yes. Not saying you can’t handle this, but it’s something
> to be aware of. Especially because you’re using a language called
> “Beginning Student Language.” That name is clear and transparent and
> honest, and maybe the world has moved past this kind of ignorance, but
> I think a bit of planning might not go amiss.
>
Thanks for bringing this up. I was thinking about this before; all I can
think of at the momemnt is to do my best to communicate in advance the
intent of the workshop? To emphasize the fact that this is not going to
be about Python or JavaScript specifically (and not Scratch either).