Raspberry Pi Feedback

Hi all

For those following the Raspberry Pi/Humble Pi threads, I thought it might be interesting to try to get some feedback on the level of interest in the device in schools. Granted this is only one teenage take on the situation, but I asked my lad about them at dinner time. He is 17 and a bit of an academic, not really interested in engineering/product design etc. Even so, I expected he would know of a few interested mates that would be getting involved with these.

Absolutely no idea! Hasn't heard of them and doesn't see why anyone would be interested. Like most these days, he sees computers as software engines only (Office, games etc) rather than controllers and interface devices etc.

What really amazed me was when I questioned him about computer science (as distinct from "IT") and whether the guys taking this course to A level were likely to be interested. Apparently the school has dropped this option as there were only 2 students interested in taking it!

The school he attends is one of the top comprehensives in the area with approx 2000 pupils, so maybe there is a leaning toward academia (rightly or wrongly).

Do any other members of the group have teenage kids to report their interest (or lack of it) in these devices, or computer applications in general?

Phil

Reply to
TheScullster
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Very interested, with real computer science taught at GCSE and A level at the local grammar school.

MBQ

Reply to
Man at B&Q

My boy (13) tends to be very interested and enthusiastic about these kinds of things for as long as it takes him to find out that he has to put some effort into reading in order to further understanding - at that point it becomes boring and he moves on to something else.

Everyone's different though; I was the complete opposite as a kid and found being spoon-fed information tedious, but loved working out what made things tick by myself.

I think the Pi would have frustrated me at that age, because the sheer amount of stuff inbetween what I type and the end result is mind-boggling

- and I think my boy would have similar problems, because people would have difficulty teaching him about what was really going on.

OTOH, I brought home an ancient typewriter the other day, and all three of our kids are fascinated by that simply because they can press a key and *see* how the end result is acheved (well, now I've stripped it all down, de-gunked and oiled it so it works, anyway ;)

cheers

Jules

Reply to
Jules Richardson

The people on our CS degree are the opposite (hardly surprising I guess).

Not at all surprising. It's a relatively hard A level, and all other things being equal, it's likely to be about one grade harder than most other subjects.

Schools don't like it because it affects their output stats (and thus their sixth form funding, which is being drastically cut anyway).

Most of them are too interested in other stuff these days - just as they aren't interested in DIY, or many other things that we were. I'm expecting my (pretty geeky) nearly-16-year-old to grow out of it - he was really into this stuff a couple of years ago. He even fixed his broken iPod Touch, buying suitable tools, parts, etc. without telling me!

Reply to
Bob Eager

I have taught both computer studies and A level physics in recent years and would have to say that they are on a par in terms of their difficulty, in general I found that the more able students could progress in both but that for those slighty less able physics was a little harder. it did depend on the interest and motivation though but some aspects of the CS course could be understood by some hard work by these students but they would struggle with the physics even when they put the work in

In answer to the oiginal poster :- on tuesday before last I brougght the subject of the Pi up with my Level 3 diploma engineers (class of 12 year 12 students) and 9 had heard of it and 3 were preparing to get up for 6 o clock the following morning to try and get one of the first batch

Reply to
Ghostrecon

That's why I said 'most'. I do see relatively few students who've taken physics (I didn't take it myself, but did Nuffield Physical Science).

Reply to
Bob Eager

It's a great device but I just do not get how it is going to promote an interest in programming, not in the first world anyway. It is no more easy to program than any other computer and if you can afford a computer or already have a computer and have the slightest inclination to try some programming then you would probably be doing so already.

In the third world where you might be keen to try a bit of programming but can't afford a computer , well, maybe.

Reply to
Roger

My 15-year-old (taking Design and Technology GCSE this summer so at least is 'target audience' you'd think)... he's never heard of the Pi either.

David

Reply to
Lobster

whilst my 9 year old son heard about it from me first (months ago) he is quite enthusiastic to try and use it for controlling leds (gpio etc) - he spent about 5 hours the other day programming a genie e18 activity board - producg amongst other things a traffic light system and alarm (not without some help - but he is quite competent)

Reply to
Ghostrecon

That's because kids can't be arsed with the difficult subjects, their whole aim is to go to uni and get any degree they can, which means the easy ones - Media Studies usually. You can blame the government and employers for encouraging them, we get grads coming to our company really proud about their useless degree, and they usually last a couple of months in engineering, after figuring out their degree is worthless in the real world and that it's not a quick ticket to superstardom.

Reply to
MarkG

That seems to be changing. The balance of applications for 'soft' courses vs. 'real' ones is tilting towards the real ones this year.

Reply to
Bob Eager

We have bought three typewriters over the last year or so. One lovely one for my desk and two for a friend who was keen to get hold of one for doing envelopes with. (Yes he wanted two)

Reply to
mogga

That's a gross generalisation. The vast majority of students do not do media studies, despite the impression given by the tabloids.

I know many kids who are really excited about studying a "difficult" subject at degree level and my eldest son is soon to be doing a 4 year undergraduate course in Physics at a top University.

I very much doubt a media studies graduate would be able to get any job ATM let alone one in engineering.

Reply to
Mark

Thanks for the interesting feed back.

A colleague of mine mentioned the Sinclair ZX and Spectrum devices that were around in our teenage. They did see a reasonable take up, but I guess most of the "development" necessary was limited to writing gaming code using multiple function keys (five at a time).

30 years ago I enrolled on a course covering computer control and such. It was cancelled due to lack of takers!

Maybe things haven't changed that much after all!

Phil

Reply to
TheScullster

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