From 562a9a52d599d9a05f871404050968a5fd282640 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: elioat Date: Wed, 23 Aug 2023 07:52:19 -0400 Subject: * --- js/games/nluqo.github.io/~bh/freedom.html | 295 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 295 insertions(+) create mode 100644 js/games/nluqo.github.io/~bh/freedom.html (limited to 'js/games/nluqo.github.io/~bh/freedom.html') diff --git a/js/games/nluqo.github.io/~bh/freedom.html b/js/games/nluqo.github.io/~bh/freedom.html new file mode 100644 index 0000000..49a5d04 --- /dev/null +++ b/js/games/nluqo.github.io/~bh/freedom.html @@ -0,0 +1,295 @@ + + +Using Computers for Educational Freedom + + +

Using Computers for Educational Freedom

+Brian Harvey
University of California, Berkeley + +

[This article is adapted from a talk given by the author at the Second +Annual Computer Conference at Lesley College, May 3, 1980.] + +

The computer is fast becoming an educational cure-all; depending on which +expert you consult, it can teach problem-solving skills, teach basic +arithmetic by making drill fun, replace the teacher, augment the teacher, +or provide experiential learning. Given all these possibilities, it's +hard to establish priorities when setting up a computer facility. The way +to choose what to do first, from among the many exciting possibilities, is +to start with a clear idea of your overall goals. + +

I would like to suggest one possible goal, and consider its practical +implications. The goal is summed up in this statement by Ted Nelson: +``The purpose of computers is human freedom.'' +[From The Computer Lib Pledge (c) 1978 Ted Nelson.] +That's pretty vague, as it stands. Let me say first that it doesn't mean +not to think about other goals. It does, though, establish priorities +in buying equipment and in spending time on development of the facility. We +have set up a computer facility at Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School +(we bought a Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11/70 in 1979), and +our choices will help explain what I understand by this goal. + +

The word ``freedom'' means many different things in different contexts. For +the purposes of this discussion, though, I want to consider two fairly +narrow components of freedom: variety and initiative. + +

Variety: Activities vs. Tools

+ +

It makes no sense to talk about freedom for students unless they have +choices to make. And as Jonathan Kozol points out, they have to be +significant choices--deciding between tuna fish and peanut butter +in the cafeteria doesn't count. + +

Probably the first thing which comes to mind under the heading of variety +is a variety of activities, as in the open classroom approach. In the +context of computer education, we can provide a variety of game programs +for student use, and a variety of suggested programming projects. This +kind of variety is an obviously worthwhile step, but I think that the +computer allows a much more profound step toward freedom: a variety of +tools. + +

You can go to the store and buy a ``computer game'' with a name like +Electronic Football. The game implies one specific activity. If it's +a good game, you may play it often. But if you get bored with the +activity, the device is useless to you. Alternatively, you can buy a +screwdriver. This tool is not limited to one activity; in fact, it +doesn't suggest an activity at all. That is, you don't say ``I think +I'll go play with my screwdriver now.'' Instead, you say ``I think I'll +fix that loose hinge now,'' and you reach for your screwdriver without +thinking about it. + +

It may be overstating the case to say that the Electronic Football game +actually decreases its owner's freedom, but certainly a good assortment +of tools is much more conducive to free behavior. The computer lends +itself to creating such a toolkit. Here +are some of the tools we offer: + +

+ +

The most powerful of software tools is the programming language. A student +who can program is truly free to use the computer in ways not anticipated by +a teacher or operating system designer. The choice of programming language +has a profound effect on the range of problems within the student's grasp; +some languages are more powerful than others, and also some are more +conducive than others to a programming style which will make large problems +comprehensible to mere human beings. For beginning programming students, we +use the Logo language. This language, developed specifically as a teaching +language at MIT and at Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc., is simple and interactive, +like BASIC, but also allows the power of list processing and recursive +procedures, like the LISP language from which many of its ideas came. The +beginning programmer can type in a simple command for immediate execution +(PRINT 2+2) or store a sequence +of commands as a named procedure for later +use. A complex problem can be divided naturally into sub-problems, each +solved by a sub-procedure of the main program. A procedure can also use +itself as a sub-procedure. The language contains provisions for +interesting problem domains like graphics (through the turtle commands +mentioned earlier) and language processing (for example, translating a +sentence into Pig Latin). + +

Other languages we use are APL, Pascal, C, and LISP. APL is used by the +Mathematics Department not to teach programming per se, but to provide +as a tool to students what amounts to a calculator which understands algebra. +The language hides many of the problems of control structure which are +prominent in more conventional languages, and emphasizes instead mathematical +concepts like functions, vectors, and matrices. Pascal is quickly becoming +a very popular teaching language because it is available on many microcomputers +and is designed to foster the Structured Programming style. I think it suffers +as an initial teaching language from the fact that it is not interactive; the +student must learn to cope with details of text editors, files, and operating +systems before writing even the simplest Pascal program. However, it is a +marvelous second language for the student who has mastered these details, +because it calls attention to issues of data types and storage allocation which +are hidden in an interactive language with dynamic allocation, like Logo. [1994 +addendum: I can't believe I said that!] The +C language is much like Pascal in its design, but it has the added benefit that +most of the Unix operating system software itself is written in C, so a student +who is curious about the inner workings of the software can read the actual +programs after learning C. Finally, LISP is one of the most powerful of +languages, used widely in Computer Science research. It provides a worthwhile +challenge to our advanced students, and has been used in one formal course on +Computational Linguistics. + +

Finally, an important role for the teacher in all this is as a sort of human +tool; he is a consultant on ways and means, rather than an initiator of +activities for students. I spend my time helping individual students debug +their programs, rather than lecturing to a large group. I also encourage +students to use one another as consultants and as tutors. + +

Initiative: a Political Issue

+ +

Educational freedom means, first of all, that students can make significant +choices from a variety of alternatives. But if the choices are always made +from a list invented by a teacher, the freedom is of a very limited sort. The +example of using the computer to typeset the Promethean illustrates +a very different sort of choice, in which +students meet their own +needs (the newspaper is an extracurricular activity, not a course) using +the computer as a tool. That's what initiative means. + +

There is a clear relationship between this notion of initiative and the +availability of a variety of tools. The more traditional variety of +activities encourages what might be called ``passive freedom''; students are +free to choose, but not free to initiate. In Paulo Freire's terms, students +are still objects of an education provided by their teachers. But a +variety of tools encourages students to become the subjects--the +actors rather than the acted-upon--of their own education. + +

Any attempt to make initiative a guiding principle in teaching will +confront two psychological barriers: first, it is hard for adults to +permit student initiative; second, it is hard for students +to accept the +burden, an unusual one in a high school, if we encourage them to take +initiative. + +

Many of the experts who write articles or talk at conferences about the use +of computers in education give the impression that simply introducing +computers to the classroom will automatically lead to increased freedom for +learners. The truth, I think, is that the use of computers can go either +way. When Ted Nelson says ``The purpose of computers is human freedom,'' he +really means that that is what the purpose should be. In practice, most +computers are better described as dedicated to human slavery! The computers +at the IRS check up on income tax cheaters; the ones at the bank send you +bills (or your paycheck, which is more pleasant than a bill but a more +important form of economic slavery). More sophisticated research computers +at the universities are used to study pictures of Vietnamese jungles to help +figure out where to drop the napalm. Similarly, many +computers in schools are still used exclusively for administrative computing; +students don't get near them. If students do use the computers, it is often +only for teacher-directed drill and practice, no matter how cleverly disguised +as a game. Better uses of the technology are possible, +but they aren't inevitable. + +

Consider an analogy. Most teachers probably agree, in principle, with the +idea of educational freedom. Students learn best through intrinsic motivation, +not through force. What you learn under pressure doesn't last past the exam. +Everyone says these things, and yet almost all teachers continue to give +grades. Why? ``It's required''; ``The colleges need grades''; ``The parents +wouldn't stand for it''; ``It's the way things are.'' In short, the reasons +for grades are political. The same political reasons make educational +freedom through computers a difficult goal. If students are left to their +own devices to initiate projects, how do we evaluate them? How do we know +they aren't just wasting time? Remember, many school computers are funded +through federal grants, and the feds always insist on evaluation of the +program. That means coopting the computer into the usual school routine +of assignments initiated and evaluated by teachers. + +

An even more frustrating barrier is that the students themselves are not +accustomed to being without instructions from an adult. Many students +will find valuable projects on their own, but many more will have to be +weaned away slowly from dependence on explicit assignments. One of my early +students taught himself four different programming +languages, and learned a great deal about issues of programming +style and structure in his senior year. He'll probably +learn less about computers in four +years of college. But he told me every day that I'm a terrible teacher, +because I didn't make him learn anything. I didn't stand in front of +the room and impart information, I didn't send in skip slips if he didn't +show up, and I didn't punish him when he acted obnoxious. Well, it's not +much fun to hear all this. It was tempting to say ``OK, if that's what you +want, sit down and shut up!'' But I doubt if the most effective classroom +manager in the world could teach this student as much in a year as he +learned on his own--he would start directing his efforts into a +power struggle. + +

What does all this mean as a guide to action? Well, our computer was +installed for a full year before I started working on curriculum materials +or organizing a course structure. I spent that year collecting and +building tools, and kids spent the year learning on their own, or by +asking questions. Two years later, we have a computer course in operation +based on self-paced curriculum units, with no grades and with many +different options in the actual course content. And about 50 kids have +keys to the computer center, and use it evenings and weekends without +adult supervision. The path from there to here was far from smooth, +but it's been exciting. + + +

+www.cs.berkeley.edu/~bh +
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