On 06/03/2012 22:57, Ghostrecon wrote:

I was not proposing that anyone should be "forced" to use any specific
bit of kit. I personally would like to see some of the basics of
software development taught alongside the office apps skills etc. I
suspect however that you would find it easier to generate enthusiasm for
a (say) a small robot being driven round an obstetrical course by a on
board Pi, than one would for something popping up on the screen of a PC.


now the mind boggles :-) lol

"def?? from wikiyuk
Obstetrics (from the Latin obstare, "to stand by") is the medical specialty
dealing with the care of all women's reproductive tracts and their children
during pregnancy (prenatal period)"

Lol! Its not often I make myself laugh that much! The joy of spell
checkers and lack of attention.

(you have to admit though, it would certainly get their attention!)

We actually have this, well, pic driven 'mars/moon lander" type robots on
the engineering diploma course avoiding obstacles - predictably the
students love it

Snipped

And then you have the other entire can of worms, whats best taught
in primary, secondardy, trade schools and university level education.

We don't really have much in the way of trade schools as such here (I
take it you refer to ones that major on vocational training rather than
academia?) which is a shame. Some of the better comprehensive schools do
now have streams that lean this way however.

We have a stream of pupils some of whom attend colleges doing different
level btec courses, run btec courses in house and the engineering diploma
these number about 100 out of a yeargroup of 400 students - its a right
b*gger to schedule i know !! Unfortunately the present education dept well
michael gove is now against this type of education despite much support fro
large manufacturing companies. Education here is a political footbal. In
the 22 years I have been in it we have changed course about 5 times - it
takes an average of 5 years to get changes through (due to the nature of
students growing up) so the system is in effect constant flux

Yup, it seems lots of the problem is that no one actually knows how to
"fix it", but they all think they do.


--
Cheers,

John.

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