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Thread: Need advice: Teaching computers to 13 yo non-geeky girl

  1. #11
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    Re: Need advice: Teaching computers to 13 yo non-geeky girl

    No amount of books will teach you, useing your computer is how you learn.
    I'm Dyslexic books don't mean nothing to me I can't copy paste from a book but I can by googleing to find answers that how most people do it leave it to the developers to solve the problems then leech their knowledge thats what Linux is all about.
    The Dyslexic Moron. user 448495 running Arch Linux 64bt
    AMD 6000x2 64bit, Asus motherboard, 8Gb Ram,Nvidia 8500 1gb unboard ram graphics card, Plextor PX760, EPSON R300, Sata 250 gb+Sata 500gb + 2 x 500 usb Hardrives,

  2. #12
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    Re: Need advice: Teaching computers to 13 yo non-geeky girl

    Quote Originally Posted by LisaM View Post
    I appreciate everyone's good will in this thread, but I feel frustrated that I haven't explained myself very well. My daughter is thoroughly competent using a computer. She's not a technophobe. But there is a huge gap between using a computer and knowing on what's going on 'under the hood'. I feel it myself, and I've been using computers practically since they were invented.

    How does one learn the 'under the hood' stuff? I have a house full of Ubuntu books, haunt the internet, read the man pages, and I'm still coming up very, very short. Do you have to take CS courses at university to pick this stuff up? Because I know for a fact that using a computer alone isn't going to do it.

    Give you an example. Something breaks. You write the question to the forum, and somebody in the know tells you to type in some lines of code somewhere. Where did that knowledge come from? How can I make sure that my daughter (and I) can tap into that and really understand what is going on?

    Thanks!
    I think it takes a real geek spirit to fully understand the under the hood parts. I can't tell you how many times ive stayed up all night going through trials and errors, faqs, tutorials, and the like just to figure out something. I think I was probably around 13 or 14(I could be wrong, but it was around there.) when I first started fiddling around with QBasic. I would spend hours asking myself, "ohh, I wonder how I can do this?!" and then look it up (this, of course, was before google ruled the earth) I would find the steps, then look up each step, then further research what that did, annd spiral down untill I had a full understanding of what it was telling the computer to do.

    Try starting her out with how a computer works. Break it down to software, and hardware. This is a hard-drive. This is flash storage. This is volatile memory, this is non-volatile. RAM, Motherboard, Graphics Card, Drivers. A computer thinks in binary and there are middle men that translate up a series of steps untill it's in plain english, japanese, french, german, spanish, whatever.

    Teach her what an operating system is and then why you use ubuntu, linux, fedora, red hat, etc. If she follows you up to that point, then there may be hope. I'd say teach her some of the basic commands, and tell her exactly what they mean like sudo (super user do) it made a lot more sense to me when the commands were broken down into english for me. Then set her up with a project..maybe..uhm..something simple like going a day using the terminal instead of the menus, to run programs. Don't tell her HOW to do it, just let her find it out on her own. Then move up in difficulty, tell her to download a certain image from the internet using just the terminal. Keep making it harder. Make sure she understands all of the comands that she's using. If she finds a solution on the internet, have her take each step, and research the command. If she does this, I'll bet she'll develop a good understanding on what's going on.

    If she doesn't have the will or spirit to do it then... idunno.

  3. #13
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    Re: Need advice: Teaching computers to 13 yo non-geeky girl

    I'm 13 too and consider myself "non-geeky." But like any other appliance you use, you need to learn to use it responsibly. My Daddy has a way of helping us do that.

    When my sister got her first car (yay!), before Daddy let her drive it, she had to learn to change a tire, check and add oil, brake fluid, tranny fluid, and battery water. Then he taught her what info to provide and gather in case of an accident (and made her practice on him while he pretended to be a belligerent jerk driving the other car). Daddy is an awesome coach!

    When we all got online Daddy put us through the internet paces the same way. In simulated chats he tried to entice us into giving something away (anything that a predator could use to track us). I actually failed the first two times and had to wait another month before I was ready, lol! We had to learn to manually update, scan, defrag, and run CCleaner and had a schedule of "computer events" to use as a checklist.

    When I told him about Linux and how all that scanning and registry cleaning and stuff is unnecessary, I think it scared him a little. Like I was being corrupted by a boy or something.

    He's still not convinced, but he lets me run my Ubuntu my own computer as long as it isn't connected to the internet. He's paranoid of the Matrix or something, or that his little baby girl messing up her whole future because a gorgeous boy got her using Linux instead of Windows, lol!

    Anyway the point is that Daddy made Heather do all that car stuff before he would let her drive; he made us do all the internet stuff with him before we could go online (no Myspace, no Facebook, nothing like that yet - just wait 'til I'm 18 tho); and he has this big computer course he made us take and pass before we could even use the computer.

    The result is that Heather is the awesome, safe driver of a well maintained car, us girls are safe online and have trouble-free computers for school and stuff.

    I wish I could get Daddy to let me go online with my Ubuntu computer though. I bet it's alot safer online than the Windows one he makes us use for the internet.

    I don't know if I've helped or not, but being super-involved with your kids on the computer is a really cool thing. We use it very confidently and safely.

    Amy
    Dance Class: No Place for Wimps!
    Non-Geeky Girls Love Linux Too!


  4. #14
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    Re: Need advice: Teaching computers to 13 yo non-geeky girl

    Quote Originally Posted by Little Bit View Post

    When my sister got her first car (yay!), before Daddy let her drive it, she had to learn to change a tire, check and add oil, brake fluid, tranny fluid, and battery water. Then he taught her what info to provide and gather in case of an accident (and made her practice on him while he pretended to be a belligerent jerk driving the other car). Daddy is an awesome coach!

    When we all got online Daddy put us through the internet paces the same way. In simulated chats he tried to entice us into giving something away (anything that a predator could use to track us). I actually failed the first two times and had to wait another month before I was ready, lol! We had to learn to manually update, scan, defrag, and run CCleaner and had a schedule of "computer events" to use as a checklist.
    Wow, when I got my first car, my dad did the same stuff for me, but as for my computer, by the time we got online, I was already teching HIM about it. Granted, this was even before ICQ and all that was about. On-line predators weren't that big of a deal.

    It's kind of interesting, people's perspective on technology and how children should be introduced into it. I just got lectured by my pop (who is somewhat of an adopted grandfather to my son) about how he thinks my son is too involved in technology at his age. My son had said something and I mentioned, "well you can tell his mother is a programmer" and it bothered him. He thinks my son is going to be bored when he gets into school because the games and programs are so below his level. I figured that was a good thing, but Idunno.

    Anyway, I'd better quit before I start a whole new discussion.

    Tell your dad a cute little man in a tuxedo seduced you into linux. Its kind of silly that he doesn't allow it to be hooked up to the internet though. I'm guessing he doesn't know a whole lot about operating systems and whatnot? I've seen a lot of places where you can download "sit down with your kids and talk to them about online safety" speeches. Was it one of those?
    Last edited by SuperCadence; July 31st, 2009 at 12:41 AM.

  5. #15
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    Re: Need advice: Teaching computers to 13 yo non-geeky girl

    Quote Originally Posted by SuperCadence View Post
    Its kind of silly that he doesn't allow it to be hooked up to the internet though. I'm guessing he doesn't know a whole lot about operating systems and whatnot? I've seen a lot of places where you can download "sit down with your kids and talk to them about online safety" speeches. Was it one of those?
    I know... Ubuntu is safer online than Windows! It's just new and unfamiliar to him, but if I can get him to use my computer a little, playing with Linux himself, maybe it will reassure him a little.

    Oh, and it was much more than a speech, lol. He made a simulated chatroom and tried to get us to give something away. He's paranoid of technology and is scared for his "little girls" to get in trouble. I'm surprised he lets us go online at all, but it's cute that he cares so much. God help any boy who comes calling!

    Oh well, one thing at a time. I keep trying to get him to read about Linux and viruses and stuff to put him at ease, and I'm sure that in time he'll come around. He might even be proud of his little girl for using Linux because it's soooo much better and safer.

    Then he'll hopefully spoil me with a new computer, lol!

    Thank you,
    Amy
    Dance Class: No Place for Wimps!
    Non-Geeky Girls Love Linux Too!


  6. #16
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    Re: Need advice: Teaching computers to 13 yo non-geeky girl


  7. #17
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    Wink Re: Need advice: Teaching computers to 13 yo non-geeky girl

    i am 17. i did not learn anything about computers till my big brother left home to college. After he left, i was left in charge of the computer. I learned the hardware bits from my dad and about software from my brother. I then researched about computers myself and now am better than my brother. I now help my friends repair their computers. I think giving your child her own computer is good. Teach her the basics and show her some basic sites for getting programs/help.

  8. #18
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    Re: Need advice: Teaching computers to 13 yo non-geeky girl

    Very good (online) book for kids to learn to program in Python: http://www.openbookproject.net/think...hon/english2e/

    It's true I didn't *really* understand how the code I write is compiled and run and exactly how different things affect performance until I implemented a CPU and wrote a compiler, but that's not necessary to get under the hood. Teach her what the main parts of the computer do. The memory hierarchy is a good topic to learn about since it teaches you why the 2GHz CPU with 2MB L2 cache can be slower than the 1.5GHz CPU with 4MB L2 cache, for example.

    SuperCadence: Yes of course it's a good thing if your kid is bored in school. It means you did a better job than the average parent at preparing them The pace they teach in elementary school...ugh, it's only fit for kids whose parents never even bothered to teach them the alphabet or how to count.
    Last edited by macogw; August 16th, 2009 at 07:10 PM.

    LinuxChix | Linux User #432169 | Ubuntu User #8495 | IRC: maco @ irc.linuxchix.org or irc.freenode.net

  9. #19
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    Re: Need advice: Teaching computers to 13 yo non-geeky girl

    Being bored in school is not necessarily good - it depends why. The subject matter may be too easy, he/she may just not be interested, there may be no avenues to coach those in the class who need help, teacher may present boringly etc etc.

    Learning anything is partly a matter of character and partly personal chemistry. Some learn best from textbooks even if badly written, some need pictures to help them grasp concepts. Also some need a person who can teach them, and the style of teaching matters too. "Chalk and talk" is OK for some, others need hands-on to cement what they have been told, some need to experiment first. One much derided method which is very pragmatic and may point in other directions once begun used to be called "sitting by Nelly" - ie find someone who knows how to do what you want to do and watch them do it while asking them questions, gradually learning to do it while they oversee; it is similar to on-the-job training. You'd need to find someone you could trust and the 13-yo would respect.

    This particular male learnt programming (Fortran II) from a manual alongside other people's programs but anything under-the-hood only by 1-to-1 question and answer. One or two of the female programmers had started in the days when programs were set up on boards like an old fashioned telephone exchange. Now that's real pioneering!

  10. #20
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    Re: Need advice: Teaching computers to 13 yo non-geeky girl

    Quote Originally Posted by col48 View Post
    Being bored in school is not necessarily good - it depends why. The subject matter may be too easy, he/she may just not be interested, there may be no avenues to coach those in the class who need help, teacher may present boringly etc etc.
    Ah, I was referring to "subject matter too easy due to student actually *gasp* taking initiative and learning things outside of class."

    LinuxChix | Linux User #432169 | Ubuntu User #8495 | IRC: maco @ irc.linuxchix.org or irc.freenode.net

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