Computer science this year was an interesting class. We learned the fundamentals of programming first, like what loops and things do, but I think that they could have been a little more interesting. Scratch and Jeroo were great learning tools, but I don’t really think Alice was very useful. The user interface was confusing, and I don’t really think I learned much with Alice. I thought that there could have been an easier way to teach how the syntax of programming is organized. We could have learned even through just drawing things on the chalkboard and taking notes, or even skipping to Jeroo and learning it along with Java syntax.
When we got to Java, I don’t feel that a lot of the stuff we learned was beneficial or really motivated the class. Not to just criticize, but I think we should have learned the mechanics of loops in Java by using object oriented programming. The programming class I took in 7th grade did this really well, where we had a pre-made class called “gameobject” which made it easy to use object oriented programming, because all you would do is assign things as game objects and then set a picture and it would appear on the screen. I found that much more satisfying to see my programming coming alive in front of me instead of seeing numbers pouring out of a console in JCreator. This being said, I learned fundamental concepts both ways, but I thought the visual way was better. This could also be the way I learn, people learn lots of different ways.
Overall, I enjoyed taking this course. It had its ups and its downs, but it turned out that I learned a lot from it. The way the subject matter was taught could have been a little more captivating and interesting, but it didn't take too much away from the learning experience. It was still a great class, and I'm glad I took it for my tech credit.
When we got to Java, I don’t feel that a lot of the stuff we learned was beneficial or really motivated the class. Not to just criticize, but I think we should have learned the mechanics of loops in Java by using object oriented programming. The programming class I took in 7th grade did this really well, where we had a pre-made class called “gameobject” which made it easy to use object oriented programming, because all you would do is assign things as game objects and then set a picture and it would appear on the screen. I found that much more satisfying to see my programming coming alive in front of me instead of seeing numbers pouring out of a console in JCreator. This being said, I learned fundamental concepts both ways, but I thought the visual way was better. This could also be the way I learn, people learn lots of different ways.
Overall, I enjoyed taking this course. It had its ups and its downs, but it turned out that I learned a lot from it. The way the subject matter was taught could have been a little more captivating and interesting, but it didn't take too much away from the learning experience. It was still a great class, and I'm glad I took it for my tech credit.
