[Yr7-10it] programming curriculum

[Dr Paul Chandler]

I think it depends on what you're trying to achieve.

My year 9 "core" class has had no problems with Alice, and enjoyed it
immensely.  All our year 9 cohort do the "core" subject - not just those
interested in computing. 

-----Original Message-----
From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au
[mailto:yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Tony Forster
Sent: Tuesday, 15 May 2007 11:01 AM
To: Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Yr7-10it] programming curriculum

I have listed all the languages I could think of at
http://tonyforster.blogspot.com/2007/02/game-programming-tools.html

I have had a quick look at most of them for:

  a.. easy entry level programming with drag and drop programming
  b.. a true versatile programming environment, not just selecting from
limited scenarios
  c.. top end extensibility through fully featured text based
programming
  d.. licencing which allows kids to continue to work at home for free
There are two, Scratch and Star Logo TNG which deserve further
investigation but, of the rest of them, GameMaker is the only one I
would set a class of lower secondary students loose on. I have tried
Alice and Lego robots and tried to make Machinima with classes, the
comparison with GameMaker is an order of magnitude different, you just
stand back and GameMaker teaches itself. 

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