This was a very interesting article...It reminded me very much of a GISP that could happen. But,I expected it to fail...I didn't think that they'd be able to do it. It was interesting to see them go through the CRC process to find any errors in their design.

It reminded me of the different learning styles paper that we read about a few weeks ago. That one sure had an impact on the GISP. The idea in this to simulate the design in groups was really smart and well planned. Theoretically the design an implementation of this would be simple but it is quite a large task. Many people from different backgrounds are required to actually do this.

I wonder what the time frame for this project was. I waivered from beleiving that the design was done in one afternoon to thinking that it was done in a semester. I dunno.

I think that perhaps for sections it might be nice to have an excercise in which the students do something like this. The paper even suggested alternative projects. It would be a good study of OOP.

Actually, now that I think about it, this could be an excercise in that highschool level class that I proposed in my last paper.

That would be such a great course. Actually, I would love to propose that to my highschool. There is now a great demand for many Computer Science courses at Santa Fe Prep. We have an intro to computing course which is basically CS2. It teaches typing and excel and word and such. Maybe CS2 is more complex but still, it is the same idea, computers for the workplace. We also have a coding class that is advanced computing. I was in the first version of that class, and the ONLY girl. Now we even have a computer graphics course, which my sister is currently taking. She says that it is rad. But I have a proposal. Add one more, (they'd love it) for the students who are planning to take the advanced computing/coding course, they should have a prereq of this logic/computer design course. They could do logic puzzles, CRC simulations, and learn basic syntax to any coding language such as what a if statement does, or what a while loop makes the computer do. They could have assignments that require pseudocode, to show that they have knowledge and understanding of them.

I see a great wave of Computer Scientists/Engineers/Programmers coming out of the next generation. Many will be expected to have knowledge of coding BEFORE they come to college. So I suggest, for those schools that can't afford or don't have the resources to do so, for those schools to have a CS1 course for highschools...awesome.

You reminded me of something... When I was in middle school, I was wisked away in a "special" class for "gifted" people. Basically, we got to spend hours figuring out puzzles and communicating designs and basically learning how to think. It was exceptionally fun. We were able to play with real life puzzles, and algorithms. I remember the same plastic towers of hanoi that adorn Andy's office. No, computers were never mentionned and I think that is a good thing. I learned the same basic concepts, fell in love with them and without any stigma of what that type of learning is about..

Right, I was also "whisked" away into a "gifted" program. Mine started in the second grade and continued into highschool, but I didn't go to public highschool so it was with me until 8th grade...

It was incredible...it was the reason I came to school. We did problems like that of Spike, those logic puzzles. We learned about the pigeon-hole principle...and such. We learned about negations and other such things...It was so much fun but here is the surprising thing, I went through so many different teachers in that program, all kinds. But the class was always interesting. No matter how good or bad the teacher was, the class was great...I thought about things in a different way because of that program...and that really is the intent of the one that I suggest. I just think that it would be a great introduction to logic and algorithms...with that said...