PDA

View Full Version : Android Programming Class



Prospero2006
January 29th, 2010, 01:15 AM
Hello everyone,

I'm teaching an Android programming class at the 8th grade level this year and I managed to convince my school to purchase a few Android dev phones for the kids to work with.

Android in Middle School Article (http://www.neisd.net/ComRel/News/Krueger_Smartphone_10.htm)

I'm documenting my lessons as I go --Here-- (http://linuxclassroom.com)



Any ideas or comments are appreciated. This is my first go around trying to teach Java. We've got a pretty good start.


Thanks!

JDShu
January 29th, 2010, 01:26 AM
Looks cool, bookmarked :)

Queue29
January 29th, 2010, 02:07 AM
Sounds cool, but how much programming experience do these kids already have? Most [American] public schools don't start CS courses until high school, so if these kids are learning Java 101, it seems like a waste of money and a lot of increased overhead to be teaching them on the Android platform.

Prospero2006
January 29th, 2010, 02:21 AM
The amount of experience varies. I had a lot of them last year and we did a semester of php where we built an online card game using a mysql database in the back end. All of them have been working with emacs and command line basics for at least the first semester. It's always slow getting started with things like this, but they are all motivated to learn.

I'd like to purchase a netbook for them to work with when they check out the dev phones for programming. I've put together a donation page

DONATE HERE (http://linuxclassroom.com/donation/donate.html)

If you can spare $1, $5 or even $10, my goal is to raise $350 dollars to get a netbook to supplement the dev phones.

If anyone can help, it would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks for the comments!

Vostrocity
January 29th, 2010, 03:13 AM
It's a cool idea that I've never seen before. However, I think focusing on the Android platform is more of a gimmick (no offense). I took AP Computer Science I (which is all Java) as a high school freshman, and it was one of the most challenging classes I have ever taken. My point is that as first-time programmers, the students will have to learn a LOT of basic ideas and get used to the specific syntax. As a result I don't think they will be able program an Android app that is any more meaningful than what they are able to do on a computer. So while Android programming is more attractive to kids and more useful in the short-term, it probably would have been better as a second year course for those already familiar with programming basics. :D

Prospero2006
January 29th, 2010, 03:30 AM
It's a cool idea that I've never seen before. However, I think focusing on the Android platform is more of a gimmick (no offense). I took AP Computer Science I (which is all Java) as a high school freshman, and it was one of the most challenging classes I have ever taken. My point is that as first-time programmers, the students will have to learn a LOT of basic ideas and get used to the specific syntax. As a result I don't think they will be able program an Android app that is any more meaningful than what they are able to do on a computer. So while Android programming is more attractive to kids and more useful in the short-term, it probably would have been better as a second year course for those already familiar with programming basics. :D

You have a good point. They won't create the world's greatest mashup this year, at least most won't, but there a couple things worth considering there:

-One: Every year there are always one or two kids that
are smarter than I could ever hope to be. They learn fast and
show an immense amount of creativity. --Never underestimate the ability of certain kids to completely knock you down.

-Two: Even those kids that don't create the world's greatest program will learn to:
-Set up Eclipse
-Manipulate the platform's basic features.
-Learn the basics of oop and procedural programming.

I'll give you an example:

-I gave one of my students a dev phone to take home over the weekend. He came back with 'hello world' running on the thing after setting up Eclipse and the Android SDK on his parents Windows box. He interfaced the phone, created the project, and made it run. A kid like this has nowhere to go but up.

-A gimmick? --I'm not sure I quite agree. I like to think
of it more as a strong hook. I also believe these kids can
succeed at it if they try and set their minds to it.

(I don't mean any offense as well. I totally see your
point about how extremely difficult a challenge it is
to go from ground zero to Android awesomeness. Takes
years of dedication. I'll be sure to reinforce that
as I progress with them.)

Thank you!

kreggz
January 29th, 2010, 04:00 AM
this is awesome - learning for Android isn't a gimmick it is a good practical example of using Java..

Corners
January 29th, 2010, 04:14 AM
Kick ***, man. I wish I could take your class!

Dragonbite
January 29th, 2010, 04:01 PM
Have any open seats! ;)

Please keep us posted on how things go!

openfly
January 29th, 2010, 07:08 PM
Teaching children to code in Java is tantamount to child abuse.

Prospero2006
January 30th, 2010, 02:05 AM
Teaching children to code in Java is tantamount to child abuse.

We did php with mysql from the ground up last semester.
That was pretty rough, but really it doesn't matter what
subject you teach or decide to teach. At this level
the kids are moving from concrete, sequential type lessons/projects to material that is more abstract and involves problem solving.

Java ain't easy. That's for sure.

Prospero2006
January 31st, 2010, 05:34 AM
Teaching children to code in Java is tantamount to child abuse.

Ok, I changed my mind. I just spent the last 3 hours writing an application that utilizes the camera correctly and writes the picture to disk. --This is child abuse!