Concurrent control for children : the design and implementation of software for a schools' environment
Concurrent control for children : the design and implementation of software for a schools' environment
Educational Computing has become firmly established in schools in the last fifteen years following the development of the personal computer. From the outset, some teachers and researchers have been interested in 'Control Technology', the use of the computer to control external devices such as bulbs, motors and model vehicles. This activity is now firmly established in the UK, owing at least in part to its inclusion in the National Curriculum as a major part of one of the five Attainment Targets of the original Technology document.
There is a problem which arises frequently when undertaking work with learners in Control Technology. It can arise in this way. Learners are introduced to the basic equipment, and some simple ways in which it can be used are demonstrated. Following this, a time of exploration might be provided to allow the learners opportunity for familiarisation and confidence-building. During this period, learners may build up small problems into a composite problem that may require previous solutions to be executed in parallel. With conventional serial programming environments, a solution is not possible without completely rewriting the program code. At this point, the learners in question may be frustrated, low in confidence, and some may even decide that they will never cope.
One solution to this problem would be to provide a parallel programming environment for the activity of Control Technology. A few attempts have been made in this direction before, but have been unsuccessful in practice. This thesis argues that modern Windows environments provide a means of making a suitable parallel programming environment which is accessible and usable, even for young children, and which is no more difficult to learn and use than a conventional one. The provision of such a tool enables learners to navigate a coherent learning pathway in Control Technology without being discouraged by finding that tasks which are simple to solve mentally require complex solutions in practice.
University of Southampton
1996
Argles, David Anthony
(1996)
Concurrent control for children : the design and implementation of software for a schools' environment.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
Educational Computing has become firmly established in schools in the last fifteen years following the development of the personal computer. From the outset, some teachers and researchers have been interested in 'Control Technology', the use of the computer to control external devices such as bulbs, motors and model vehicles. This activity is now firmly established in the UK, owing at least in part to its inclusion in the National Curriculum as a major part of one of the five Attainment Targets of the original Technology document.
There is a problem which arises frequently when undertaking work with learners in Control Technology. It can arise in this way. Learners are introduced to the basic equipment, and some simple ways in which it can be used are demonstrated. Following this, a time of exploration might be provided to allow the learners opportunity for familiarisation and confidence-building. During this period, learners may build up small problems into a composite problem that may require previous solutions to be executed in parallel. With conventional serial programming environments, a solution is not possible without completely rewriting the program code. At this point, the learners in question may be frustrated, low in confidence, and some may even decide that they will never cope.
One solution to this problem would be to provide a parallel programming environment for the activity of Control Technology. A few attempts have been made in this direction before, but have been unsuccessful in practice. This thesis argues that modern Windows environments provide a means of making a suitable parallel programming environment which is accessible and usable, even for young children, and which is no more difficult to learn and use than a conventional one. The provision of such a tool enables learners to navigate a coherent learning pathway in Control Technology without being discouraged by finding that tasks which are simple to solve mentally require complex solutions in practice.
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Published date: 1996
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Local EPrints ID: 460040
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/460040
PURE UUID: 2ffd34c6-76e1-4133-b518-95d22478afc6
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 17:44
Last modified: 04 Jul 2022 17:44
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Author:
David Anthony Argles
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