Back to school: more students, more choices Schools & Kids, posted by Editor, Mountain View Voice Online, on Aug 25, 2011 at 3:20 pm
Mountain View elementary and middle schools are taking on more students this year and adding to their course offerings, and the local high school district is remaining about the same size but expanding the number of classes they offer, officials from both districts said.
Read the full story here Web Link posted Wednesday, August 24, 2011, 4:57 PM
Posted by Liza, a resident of the Waverly Park neighborhood, on Aug 25, 2011 at 3:27 pm
Middle school has a great new class - called Math Support (or Language Art support) to help the students have some small group help from a teacher without extra homework.
Posted by OhWell, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Aug 25, 2011 at 10:29 pm
The AP Physics courses are a step in the right direction, but even more useful would be self-directed research... too much focus on preparing for college by getting credits for college. Preparing for college should also include self-paced work without nightly homework, but rather broad, yet challenging goals. Does something like this exist in MVLA?
Computer programming? I remember learning Applesoft II BASIC in 1980 in 4th grade... First programming class in high school (PASCAL). Been a LONG time since I used either of those! My experience has been that too much focus is typically placed on the dialect (programming language) rather than the foundational concepts of computing (e.g. finite state machines) and programming in general (e.g OO, procedural and functional programming).
Glad to see they are emphasizing science/tech, hope that is not the extent of the offerings though.
Posted by James, a resident of the Whisman Station neighborhood, on Aug 26, 2011 at 6:31 am
I think they should teach Computer Programming like writing, it's like they taught everyone to read, but no writing. Everyone should have some basic programming skills, Scratch in Elementary, Alice in Middle, Java and AP CS in High School.
Posted by Geek, a resident of the Blossom Valley neighborhood, on Aug 26, 2011 at 10:59 am
Why bother with computer programming? Programming in the future will be done on programming farms in India and China. More emphasis on science and engineering other than programming is the side I come down on.
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