EasyC for Beginners (was:Girls and... Robots?)

[Sister Grimm]

Okay, I didn't know where to put this... so if a moderator finds this and sees it not fit... I didn't mean to, I'm sorry.

So, for those who are veterans to Chief Delphi (unlike me, lazy bum I am... first time in ages I've come back onto this site.), you've probably seen a lot of 'OMG, help, my girls have robot problems' or something like that.

Well, this probably isn't much different.

Just a smidgen.

I was given, as my first, official mentor task (yay me... I think...) to get our girls more excited about building the robot... or getting more involved in the robot... or something that gets them excited about science/math/engineering/making robots look pretty, whatever the case may be.

The problem is more or less how to go about that.

I've finally decided on a thing to do.

A VEX kit... or two, depending on how many of 1511's girls I get involved in this... there are only five or six that aren't mechanically/electrically/programmingly (okay, so not an english major) inclined by any stretch of the imagination, but sorda kinda wanna be... dunno how to... that whole bit.

My current problem:

I don't know how to program. Period. Easy C is probably like... Greek to me... I can attempt to read it... and I understand some of it... buuuut...

You get the point.

I've been reading a few sites here and there... but haven't gotten very far... I'm about to look over the easy C section here... but I'm curious as to how to teach a girl or two easy C without... well... blundering it up myself.

So, as with many other topics of the like, I ask of your help. Please.

[indieFan]

One of the best things that I found as a mentor was to show the students *how* to find the answers.

Don't think that you must know everything going into this project. Show the students some of the sites that you have been looking at, then ask them to see if they can dig up some more information. You'll find that if you're learning at the same time as the students, everyone will learn that much more than if you're simply sitting there telling them how to do it.

I worked for 5 years on drive systems for one team. Believe it or not, every year I had to re-learn how to do all the calculations. However, I'm sure that the students learned a lot more from seeing me struggle to re-learn it than they would have if I simply said, "Ok, here's the formula for this. Now plug in these numbers."

I can also tell you that it is critical in any job to know and understand what your resources are. This is just the first step in teaching the students what constitutes a quality resource, especially if you're searching online.

indieFan

[Josh Goodman]

Hey Lorien, why don't you talk with Jeff or Amy? Maybe they could give you either some websites, tips, or tutorials.

[Sister Grimm]

Thanks indieFan, I didn't think about it like that.

And, I don't wanna go ask Jeff about this... I think he's grumpy with me... I'll try for Amy though... which might lead into a lunch date with her and Kim... hmmm, options.

Thanks for the suggestion ^^