Project work with young programmers
I post one interesting article about the experience of organizing project work among schoolchildren-young programmers, more in detail - its scientific and technical component prepared by 3 authors-leaders of programmer circles ... For the second year our students go to the Russian round of the “Step into the Future” conference and do not quit without diplomas (these were interesting patterns in the Lissajous curves in 2008 and the traffic model for various traffic miscalculations in a given traffic situation, implemented programmatically in 2009) ...
The habr-version of the / me article made some edits to improve readability, but the original, original version is also available on prooflink.
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A reference to the full article, the official version: G. B. Reingold, A. N. Yurkevich, M. G. Reingold, “Project work of young programmers”, 2010 (! RTF detected, PDF coming soon!)
In the educational process of our association "Young Programmer" (Irkutsk) there are two main types of activities of students: solving problems and working on projects. The association has existed since 1986 , and at first, design work was in the first place. In those years, the school olympiad movement (along the programming line) has not yet developed (we?) , But it did have the opportunity to engage in productive labor. There were projects that were bought by budding capitalists and even regional authorities - applied software, databases, small initiatives in accounting. And even in the early nineties, when we were deprived of the opportunity to take production orders with a general crisis, project work remained paramount. But school olympiads in computer science were gaining strength (equal to programming then), and we all gave in to a new hobby.
Most of the training time we started to spend on solving a variety of programmer tasks , sometimes to the detriment of projects. Nevertheless, in recent years we have returned to the long-term work on large programs. This was largely due to the fact that various scientific research conferences, engineering and scientific exhibitions and other intellectual competitions, where young researchers and engineers present and defend their work, have become popular. Despite the fact that our students relatively recently participate in such competitions, there are already tangible successes up to the All-Russian level.
Immediately it is necessary to separate two points: the very long-term work on the project, and participation in competitions to protect it . There is also some contradiction here, since the second often goes to the detriment of the first. There are students who work well, but they are not very interested in the competitive moment. It is worth noting that the competition takes not only time and effort, but also requires certain cash investments . However, within reasonable limits, and from participating in conferences and exhibitions have many benefits.
Project work has two components: engineering and research . Let us dwell on the second, this article is devoted to it.
The research work of students is considered to be the most difficult type of learning activity that is not feasible for everyone. After all, not every adult person is capable of such work. However, among the circle members there is always a certain percentage who have a tendency toward science. I would like to make a reservation right away that when we talk about scientific studies with young programmers, there is some tolerance here. In these occupations, the “invention of a bicycle” inevitably happens, often discoveries are made only for oneself. Otherwise, probably, it is impossible to teach and accustom to such work. However, here we must strive to ensure that there is a little more than a zero element of novelty , tending to 1 . As practice shows, the best young researchers regularly manage to have their say in science, to make, albeit small, but a discovery. At all children's conferences, the jury constantly heard questions: “Where is your novelty?” .
<mycomment1> A question can be cruel, unfair, do not take into account age, gender, religion and assessment in Russian, but this is a question. Adult science is even more aggressive, we will try to inculcate from childhood - to be the best in our sport, but to remain just good people. </ mycomment1>
<mycomment2> / me tried to cut off all the fat and drain all the water, alternatively to the pictures to provide the text with a similarity of color anchors, so that it was for that to catch the eye, I apologize in advance if it came out very clumsy. All comments on the essence, style and design are welcome, my carma opening for you minus everytime </ mycomment2>
The habr-version of the / me article made some edits to improve readability, but the original, original version is also available on prooflink.
')
Since you, the reader, heeded the warning about the pictures. No, heed and one more introductory: “We”, which will be flashed in the following very often - these are three teachers-collaborators, and I cannot change it to “I”, because here not all mine So that will be "We", as it happens) ...
A reference to the full article, the official version: G. B. Reingold, A. N. Yurkevich, M. G. Reingold, “Project work of young programmers”, 2010 (! RTF detected, PDF coming soon!)
In the educational process of our association "Young Programmer" (Irkutsk) there are two main types of activities of students: solving problems and working on projects. The association has existed since 1986 , and at first, design work was in the first place. In those years, the school olympiad movement (along the programming line) has not yet developed (we?) , But it did have the opportunity to engage in productive labor. There were projects that were bought by budding capitalists and even regional authorities - applied software, databases, small initiatives in accounting. And even in the early nineties, when we were deprived of the opportunity to take production orders with a general crisis, project work remained paramount. But school olympiads in computer science were gaining strength (equal to programming then), and we all gave in to a new hobby.
Most of the training time we started to spend on solving a variety of programmer tasks , sometimes to the detriment of projects. Nevertheless, in recent years we have returned to the long-term work on large programs. This was largely due to the fact that various scientific research conferences, engineering and scientific exhibitions and other intellectual competitions, where young researchers and engineers present and defend their work, have become popular. Despite the fact that our students relatively recently participate in such competitions, there are already tangible successes up to the All-Russian level.
Immediately it is necessary to separate two points: the very long-term work on the project, and participation in competitions to protect it . There is also some contradiction here, since the second often goes to the detriment of the first. There are students who work well, but they are not very interested in the competitive moment. It is worth noting that the competition takes not only time and effort, but also requires certain cash investments . However, within reasonable limits, and from participating in conferences and exhibitions have many benefits.
Project work has two components: engineering and research . Let us dwell on the second, this article is devoted to it.
The research work of students is considered to be the most difficult type of learning activity that is not feasible for everyone. After all, not every adult person is capable of such work. However, among the circle members there is always a certain percentage who have a tendency toward science. I would like to make a reservation right away that when we talk about scientific studies with young programmers, there is some tolerance here. In these occupations, the “invention of a bicycle” inevitably happens, often discoveries are made only for oneself. Otherwise, probably, it is impossible to teach and accustom to such work. However, here we must strive to ensure that there is a little more than a zero element of novelty , tending to 1 . As practice shows, the best young researchers regularly manage to have their say in science, to make, albeit small, but a discovery. At all children's conferences, the jury constantly heard questions: “Where is your novelty?” .
- Work begins with the choice of topics and the formation of a creative team . These are two separate parts of the work, but our experience says that they can be done simultaneously. We believe that it does not make sense to undertake such work alone, but when forming a team, many factors must be taken into account, otherwise an inefficient team may be created, or there will be ineffective participants in it. Unfortunately, at most student scientific conferences, teams of more than 2 people are not allowed. Members of the team are also teachers, scientific leaders of the work. Sometimes there is a lack of knowledge in some subjects, in particular, in mathematics. This may be due to the fact that they have not yet had time to reach the topic of the school curriculum, or this topic is not included in the school course. But we solve this problem with the help of special classes. When formulating a topic, one must take care that it is not very broad, otherwise such work will not be possible to complete in the few months allotted to it. It is important not just to choose a topic, but to formulate it well, so that it sounds interesting even for an ignorant person and relevant for a specialist. When a topic is formulated, and sometimes it takes several days to do this, a plan for the implementation of the work is drawn up. The team members, together with the leader, distribute who should do what and by what time, set a time for discussion of the parts of the overall work performed. The work should begin with a bibliographic study, finding out what has already been done on this topic and what white spots there are. If there is no one at all, then it must be admitted that this topic is deliberately unprofitable, there is no chance of achieving any novelty. Then you have to change the subject.
- After a well-conducted previous stage of work, you can safely take up the scientific and engineering part . Research work, being a separate type of educational activity, is closely connected with its other types. In our association, this is a problem solving and project development. The young researcher has to create various computer programs, and quite complex ones. The development of these programs takes months of hard work. This part is a design activity, engineering work. But in the process of working on large programs, young programmers inevitably face narrow problems, which need to be worked out separately. Making a working computer program well is not an end in itself. The program, as a rule, implements a mathematical model of the studied area, it is just a tool for scientific research, consisting in conducting a computer experiment. Careful experimentation is an important part of the work, this is where the results are obtained. In principle, this stage lends itself well to automation. Using a computer program, the results of a series of experiments are arranged in a convenient form. A very interesting point - the choice of new directions for experimentation.
But the next stage, understanding the results obtained, the discovery of patterns, the formulation of conclusions - is the most interesting part. There must be a discovery here! - The work seems to be finished, but we still need to arrange it and protect it. Protection is made at student conferences, municipal, regional, national or international level, which are held in large numbers. So here (in Irkutsk and the Irkutsk Region) at least 4 municipal conferences and as many regional conferences are held annually.
- To protect , as the completion of all the work, you must carefully prepare. First, arrange the work in the form of an abstract with applications in the form of workable programs, as well as tables and diagrams reflecting the results of the research. Secondly, it is good to speak, why not be too lazy to prepare a speech. Third, answer the questions of the jury members and the public. All this is simple only at first glance. For successful work, we have to spend a lot of time and effort on all this, in particular, to hold classes in public speaking , although, of course, the best results on defense are achieved for children who have this skill from birth.
It must be recalled that during the defense questions on the knowledge of the studied area may follow, and woe to the participant who does not show his knowledge, even at an elementary level. In general, when preparing for a speech, you need to carefully consider what questions there may be and try to find answers to them. On the protection of the project it also solves a lot.
<mycomment1> A question can be cruel, unfair, do not take into account age, gender, religion and assessment in Russian, but this is a question. Adult science is even more aggressive, we will try to inculcate from childhood - to be the best in our sport, but to remain just good people. </ mycomment1>
<mycomment2> / me tried to cut off all the fat and drain all the water, alternatively to the pictures to provide the text with a similarity of color anchors, so that it was for that to catch the eye, I apologize in advance if it came out very clumsy. All comments on the essence, style and design are welcome, my carma opening for you minus everytime </ mycomment2>
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/85977/
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