Tim,

I think assembly is very suitable for the 13 to 14 or maybe even lower ages. It will get them thinking in very fine grained steps about what they are trying to get a program to do. I have taught 'Logo' to 7 and 8 years olds. The low level instructions they were given relate very much to assembly and they had no problems at all, despite English not being their first language.

An all software simulator would be a good introduction to the children when they are around 11-12, then get them onto hardware when they are 13-14. The simulator will help them to later visualize what they are doing.

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From:   Tim Kerby[SMTP:tim.kerby@UKONLINE.CO.UK]
Sent:   05 March 1997 07:24
To:     PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject:        The PIC in Scotish Schools

Hi
We have been told the PIC will be used in schools in Scotland after much
persuading on both my part and my teachers to the Scotish Examination
Board.  Unfortunaly, Andy Cooper of Notingham Trent University has come up
with an English version using Icon which he has developed as a PLC
lookalike (ladder programming) system.  This supports parallel multitasking
and programs are created with drag and drop but no mathematical functions
are used (except and and or) and the code does not relate to the PIC.  He
fels that assembly should be left to university although schools manage
happily with 16 year olds on 6502 assembly (and all the hex conversion and
manual programming).  We would like to drop this age to 13 or 14.  Do you
think assembly would be suitable if appropriate coursework and reference
was provided and perhaps only learning the 15 or so core instructions.


Comments would be gratefully received


Tim


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