EduBlocks

Teaching software development? Using LiveCode to build your curriculum? This is the forum for you.

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richmond62
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Re: EduBlocks

Post by richmond62 » Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:16 am

The pathway:

SCRATCH > Python or

ENTRY > Python

is awful, mainly as ALL those packages supply is a field with Python code in parallel to whatever is happening in SCRATCH or ENTRY,
presumably on the extremely specious theory that a child can, will, and wants to, do some sort of mental backflip and move from
one to the other.

Why does Python remind me of the PASCAL V I studied in 1985?

It certainly looks as clunky.
Last edited by richmond62 on Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:28 am, edited 1 time in total.

richmond62
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Location: Bulgaria

Re: EduBlocks

Post by richmond62 » Wed Nov 03, 2021 8:26 am

https://www.letsstartcoding.com/beyond- ... dle-school

"BLOCK CODE IS AN ENTRY POINT, NOT A PATHWAY"

"These are fine starting places, but they can’t offer a full introduction to coding.

"Why not? Because some coding skills like commenting, code styling, and troubleshooting
do not transfer directly from block to typed coding. Block coding tools are appropriate for
students in K-5, but they’re only useful for the first one to two years of coding before moving
on to text-based code."

This article says IT very well indeed.

"Many educators are concerned with which coding language to teach. Java, Python, Javascript, HTML, C++, BASIC, Go, C: it’s overwhelming!"

You bet your pink asbestos booties it is, and THAT is exactly where LiveCode SHOULD and MUST come in.
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SShot 2021-11-03 at 9.24.40.png
SShot 2021-11-03 at 9.24.40.png (6.48 KiB) Viewed 2748 times
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BUT an awful lot of children are left "writing in capital letters" because the jump
from SCRATCH to Java, Python, C++ and so on is just too big and they get stuck in
a place that does not serve them one little bit.

richmond62
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Posts: 9286
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Re: EduBlocks

Post by richmond62 » Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:35 am

SShot 2021-11-03 at 11.33.24.png
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ENTRY here getting things seriously pear-shaped as what is written on the blocks
seems to be Python already . . .

Err . . . so what is the point of those blocks in this context as it presupposes the users already
know Python?

richmond62
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Re: EduBlocks

Post by richmond62 » Wed Nov 03, 2021 10:42 am

And here are good, old-fashioned Turtle Graphics with no blocks, no nothing

[well, except for some kitschy animated GIFs so things look 'sexy' for 2021]

http://www.logointerpreter.com/turtle-editor.php
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SShot 2021-11-03 at 11.38.39.png
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And this is the easiest thing to implement in LiveCode, but,
in the long run I cannot see any particular benefit as

Code: Select all

set the angle
and

Code: Select all

move
are a tiny subset of the LiveCode lexicon.

Tell you what . . . it is amazingly relaxing to play around with Turtle Graphics after some hard work. 8)

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