[racket] pre Realm of Racket

[Matthew Butterick]

I enjoyed reading Realm of Racket (& not embarrassed to say I even learned
a few things, like #; for commenting an S-expression). Nice job, all those
involved.

I was interested in the note on p.9 that Racket was originally a project
that "had middle school students in mind."

Suppose I know some middle-school students who are good at math but have no
exposure to programming. What book / resource would give them an
appropriate foundation to read Realm of Racket?

[Matthias Felleisen]

I enjoyed reading Realm of Racket (& not embarrassed to say I even learned a few things, like #; for commenting an S-expression). Nice job, all those involved.
I was interested in the note on p.9 that Racket was originally a project that "had middle school students in mind."
Suppose I know some middle-school students who are good at math but have no exposure to programming. What book / resource would give them an appropriate foundation to read Realm of Racket?

1. For a middle school student, I'd start with the Bootstrap material, which matches up well with the math that is taught at this level across the country. See http://www.bootstrapworld.org. There is a syllabus/material there for teaching kids on a home-schooling or after-school basis.

2. If the students are quick with it, move on to the first two parts of HtDP/2e. See http://www.ccs.neu.edu/home/matthias/HtDP2e/index.html

3. If that's challenging, work thru it slowly. Supplement with games you can make up that match that level of design.

4. If that's boring, move over to Realm of Racket to teaching programming instead of program design.

If you're stuck/need advice, holler. There are plenty of people on this list who can help -- Matthias


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