Would you recommend becoming a BS2 tutor?
lardom
Posts: 1,659
A local community center decided to display some 3D photographs I made with the machine I designed from the Propeller. I'm excited because people in my town will get to know some of what I do.
If my machine evokes curiosity from some young kids then I'd like to teach a class on the Basic Stamp.
The BS2 showed me I could actually program. It was scary at first but I built a machine based on the BS2. I eventually redesigned it based on the Propeller.
I want to know from current tutors how big the commitment is. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. Inspiring young people to have bigger dreams seems to be a worthwhile pursuit
If my machine evokes curiosity from some young kids then I'd like to teach a class on the Basic Stamp.
The BS2 showed me I could actually program. It was scary at first but I built a machine based on the BS2. I eventually redesigned it based on the Propeller.
I want to know from current tutors how big the commitment is. I don't want to bite off more than I can chew. Inspiring young people to have bigger dreams seems to be a worthwhile pursuit
Comments
Erco mentioned that 'What's a Microcontroller' kits are now on sale at very good prices - $30 each for V2.2 and $40 each for V3.0 - so there is a real window of opportunity to get a small class going at low cost.
The more I think about it, teaching the Basic Stamp before introducing the Propeller is quite logical. It may seem too easy and boring to you, but a lot of people have little and no concept of electricity. They need time to absorb a great deal of introductory material.
We have had a lively debate about Linux based small boards being useful in education, but I strongly suspect that they focus too much on the computer as a file system; where as what Parallax does best is to focus on the microcontroller at a lower level as a device that can communicate, collect data, and control things.
If you do teach, I'd recommend reading some introductory programming books in several languages, not just the Parallax material. This will help you understand what it is that beginner students don't understand.
well spoken.
@lardom
A couple of month after the wall came down in Germany I was bound to take over a class of students in (East-) Germany because of sudden illnes of the assigned teacher (a friend of mine). Since I just finished one of my projects I agreed and went down there to Leipzig, Germany.
Not knowing anything about teaching, but lots of the subject to teach, I agreed. And took over a class of 40+ people - eager to learn - to explain to them how to REALLY program ... well ... COBOL. kind of out of date now.
2 days, 8 hours per week in the classroom. Basically NO teaching-material. PCs with Micro-Focus COBOL.
Every hour in class takes (at least) another hour for preparation. And then they come (the eager ones) after class. Hunting you. You either will love it or you should not even think about going there. Teaching - if done good - takes WAY more hours then you get paid for.
On the other side it is the most rewarding thing I have ever done and I was pretty surprised about that. Somehow I was sad that my friend got well again and I went back to programming, leaving them.
So if you feel that you can handle this - DO IT.
Enjoy!
Mike
By all means, get in there and teach!
As it looks like it is a voluntary class, you should have a majority of people who want to learn. Bear in mind you might have a pretty broad range of ages in the one class.
In teaching/tutoring, preparation is everything. As someone has noted, you'll spend more time in prep than in actual teaching. Make sure your sample programs work, have spare parts on hand and be aware that its OK not to chase down every rabbit hole presented by the questioning student. Sometimes you just have to say, "we haven't time to investigate that today but you do some research and we'll talk about it next time".
Prep time includes making sure the computers in the class all work with your software and that they'll program the Stamp successfully.
Seeing someone "get it" for the first (or fifteenth) time is priceless!
Cheers,
Tom
Reading replies from those with direct teaching experience clears things up. Thanks. I appreciate the reality check. The electronics books I've seen begin with a discussion of atoms. I myself have to become a student of what young people need to learn before I can help.
What ages are these kids? Do you have any experience raising kids of your own? You might find yourself surprised by what kids know and what they don't know.
I'm painfully aware that kids today don't seem to know how to do many things that were basic to my existence when I was growing up, especially in the realm of anything hands-on. Schools and society in general have created such a safety wall around kids, they are, in some respects, too cocooned from physical reality. Case in point:
Last year I had a small group of bright elementary kids out camping. These were kids in the local school's "gifted and talented" group and they were sharp. But they had no experience with fire. I set up a campfire ring with a "tipi" of wood all ready to be lit. I figured the kids would get a thrill out of starting a big camp fire together. I gave each kid a long fireplace match and let them strike it and start the fire. Problem is, they all lit the campfire from one side. So I told them they should light the other side, too, so the "tipi" of sticks would burn evenly all around. To my astonishment, they all stood there staring at me, confused. I kept urging them to get it in gear and light the other side. Finally, they told me they were waiting for new matches - they had blown out their original matches exactly as I had instructed them to do. So there they all stood by a growing fire, each with a long match stick in his hand, telling me they needed new matches because their matches had gone out. At this point, I was as confused as they were. To me, it was obvious they could re-light their match sticks using the roaring fire and then light the other side of the wood pile. So we all stood there for some time blinking at each other, until it finally occurred to me that, in their minds, matches only worked once. They were amazed when I finally explained they could re-light those used match sticks and use them to light the other side of the pile.
Moral of the story: when teaching anybody anything, you must continuously be questioning the assumptions under which you are operating.
I'm in my 50's and I have three daughters. When they were young I took them to a spot in the woods and heated up some canned food on a propane camping stove. I probably enjoyed it more than they did.
I tried this with a small group and ended up doing more of a show and tell. Instead of trying to convey a bunch of knowledge in a small amount of time, you could show them a lot of cool stuff, then tell them how to learn more about it. Throw in interesting fundamentals, fun facts, stuff like that but don't try to cover too much in 1-2 hours it's impossible.
A handout with more info on learning resources is a great way to keep it fresh in their minds. Definitely give them something to take home.
It's hard, but YOU will learn a lot - along with the students.
Remember "3 ways, 3 times" when developing any material. This means deliver a topic is 3 different ways, 3 times to maximize reception by the tutor-ee.
BTW - when we're beginning to start another class development cycle at work, we use the rule "1 hour of class time = 12 hours of development time"...and we're not far off when all is said and done.
Good success to you!
As others have said, kids will come in with widely different skill sets and interests and levels of concentration. That is a big challenge in teaching at any level, seeming to keep the focus, while at the same time running concurrent threads to keep everyone engaged. I used to teach an extension class on "electronics for biologists" for adults, and yes, there was a lot of preparation, and each group was a completely different constellation, but it was really was rewarding when their circuits came to life (so to speak, with smiles).
I will say that erco makes a great point. I will start with one or two bright kids and take it from there. I can manage that.
Spend some time in the Education forum and see what's working over there. http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?94478-Parallax-Educators-Courses
Robotics is particularly great for showing kids real-world applications for math & science.
five years ago, I have been thinking about a way to involve kids from grade school to high
school. I learned a great deal about students, and what kind of preparation is required
to compete in a FIRST competition. These kids had an advantage of still having a huge machine
shop class available to them, a robotics class building BOE-Bots, and at least six engineers that
were ready to help them. But in the end, it was a complete disaster.
The lesson I learned, was that students need to find their own strengths, and weakness
on their own. Maybe similar to a "Montessori education" style. But in order for them to
want to spend the time to explore, and find out what their strengths are, you need a hook.
Some sort of instant gratification that peaks their interest, and requires no initial time
investment. If they like the hook, competition will drive their own versions of problem solving.
These days I am considered teaching a "WHAM" course locally or helping to teach one. Classes for rank beginners can be some of the hardest to teach as many things end up getting presented in 'fits and starts' unless one really knows how to make even the most basic things fun.
For instance, one can demonstrate resistance by cooking a hot dog with 110VAC, then demonstrate stray eddy currents by inserting a couple of LEDs into the hot dog and watching the light up and flash. But it takes a certain kind of showman to teach safety along the way.
My biggest dilemma in Taiwan is that regardless of WHAM being translated to Chinese, the software coding is still all in English. At best, it is a bilingual course - certainly not fully translated to Chinese.
BTW, safety can be demonstrating by subsequently trying to cook yet another hot dog with 5 volts.