December 2018 - Education

Welcome and introductions
by Chris Smith 12 Jan '19

12 Jan '19

Hello, everyone! Welcome to education(a)haskell.org. This mailing list grew out of discussions at ICFP 2018 about creating a space for collaboration and discussion of using Haskell and other functional programming languages in general education. To jump-start that process, I'd like to invite everyone to introduce themselves and specifically share your goals, opportunities, vantage point, and interests. The hope is that we'll be able to sort ourselves into compatible interests and ideas, to kick off more detailed discussion or collaborations. Some suggested questions to spur discussion: - What education-related projects are you involved in, or have you been involved in previously? - What other projects do you find exciting, intriguing, or worthy of emulation? - On the other hand, what projects or conversations should be happening, but are not happening yet? - Is there anything specific that you are definitely looking for from this space? - What vision do you have for functional programming in education? That is, what general principles guide your thinking? I will reply with my own answers, and encourage you to do the same. Thanks, Chris P.S. I realize this email is long past due. Between my job as a software engineer, volunteer teaching, and recent development on CodeWorld, I have again fallen into the trap of over-committing myself and falling behind on outside commitments. I hope that late is still better than never.

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Re: [Haskell & FP in Education] Welcome and introductions
by Samantha Frohlich 21 Dec '18

21 Dec '18

Hello everyone, My name is Sam Frohlich and I am an undergraduate at the University of Bristol hoping to pursue a PhD on the subject of FP and teaching. I am currently enjoying being a teaching assistant for an introductory course into Haskell and then a more advanced course using Haskell to make compilers which is taught to second years. While I focus on finishing my undergraduate degree I will quietly stay up to date with this mailing list, but after I have graduated I hope to become more involved! Sam :-) On Sun, Dec 16, 2018 at 12:46 PM <education-request(a)haskell.org> wrote: > Send Education mailing list submissions to > education(a)haskell.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > https://mail.haskell.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/education > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > education-request(a)haskell.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > education-owner(a)haskell.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Education digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Welcome and introductions (Chris Smith) > 2. Re: Welcome and introductions (Dan Burton) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 15 Dec 2018 17:19:49 -0500 > From: Chris Smith <cdsmith(a)gmail.com> > To: education(a)haskell.org > Subject: [Haskell & FP in Education] Welcome and introductions > Message-ID: > < > CAPq5PvL6v9SckPYFdxsaJU_UV7CJdPGbqintDRBAU_gxpmEaSQ(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > Hello, everyone! Welcome to education(a)haskell.org. > > This mailing list grew out of discussions at ICFP 2018 about creating a > space for collaboration and discussion of using Haskell and other > functional programming languages in general education. To jump-start that > process, I'd like to invite everyone to introduce themselves and > specifically share your goals, opportunities, vantage point, and > interests. The hope is that we'll be able to sort ourselves into > compatible interests and ideas, to kick off more detailed discussion or > collaborations. > > Some suggested questions to spur discussion: > > - What education-related projects are you involved in, or have you been > involved in previously? > - What other projects do you find exciting, intriguing, or worthy of > emulation? > - On the other hand, what projects or conversations should be happening, > but are not happening yet? > - Is there anything specific that you are definitely looking for from this > space? > - What vision do you have for functional programming in education? That > is, what general principles guide your thinking? > > I will reply with my own answers, and encourage you to do the same. > > Thanks, > Chris > > P.S. I realize this email is long past due. Between my job as a software > engineer, volunteer teaching, and recent development on CodeWorld, I have > again fallen into the trap of over-committing myself and falling behind on > outside commitments. I hope that late is still better than never. >

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Faculty Position Teaching Functional Programming and Related Topics
by Conrad Cunningham 20 Dec '18

20 Dec '18

For the past 28 years, I have taught an elective course in Functional Programming several times--mostly using Haskell. For the past two years, I have used Haskell as the primary language in my department's required Organization of Programming Languages course. During the past dozen years, I have also chosen to teach elective courses on various software engineering and programming language topics using languages such as Scala, Elixir, Lua, Ruby, Prolog, Elm, and Python. However, I plan to retire in a few months. My department is looking to fill my position and one or more other new faculty positions. My colleagues would welcome strong applicants with expertise and interest in the programming language and software engineering spaces. I append the position announcements below. H. Conrad Cunningham, D.Sc., Professor Computer and Information Science (Department Chair, 2001-15) University of Mississippi (USA) ----- Assistant Professor The Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Mississippi invites applications for one or more tenure-track Assistant Professor positions. Applicants must hold a PhD or equivalent in Computer Science or a closely related field by August 15, 2019. Applicants must have the ability to teach both graduate and undergraduate courses, conduct research in major areas of computer science, and supervise MS and PhD students. The Department has an ABET/CAC-accredited undergraduate program and MS/PhD programs. Visit http://www.cs.olemiss.edu for more information about the Department. Applicants must apply online at careers.olemiss.edu, supplying the following documents: a cover letter; curriculum vitae; research and teaching statements; and a list of three references with email addresses and phone numbers. Combine the documents into a single PDF and upload in the resume or cover letter slot. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled or an adequate applicant pool is reached. For ten consecutive years, the University of Mississippi has been recognized as one of the best colleges in the nation to work for by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The University of Mississippi is an EOE/AA/Minorities/Females/Vet/Disability/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/Title VI/Title VII/Title IX/504/ADA/ADEA employer. ----- Instructional Assistant Professor The Department of Computer and Information Science at the University of Mississippi invites applications for an Instructional Assistant Professor. Applicants must hold a PhD or equivalent in Computer Science or a closely related field by August 15, 2019. Applicants must have the ability to teach both graduate and undergraduate courses, supervise MS students, and perform service duties as needed. This is a permanent, support faculty position. It is non-tenure track, but an individual holding this title is eligible for promotion to higher ranks. The Department has an ABET/CAC-accredited undergraduate program and MS/PhD programs. Visit http://www.cs.olemiss.edu for more information about the Department. Applicants must apply online at careers.olemiss.edu, supplying the following documents: a cover letter; curriculum vitae; teaching statement; a list of three references with email addresses and phone numbers; and, optionally, a research statement. Combine the documents into a single PDF and upload in the resume or cover letter slot. Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled or an adequate applicant pool is reached. For ten consecutive years, the University of Mississippi has been recognized as one of the best colleges in the nation to work for by The Chronicle of Higher Education. The University of Mississippi is an EOE/AA/Minorities/Females/Vet/Disability/Sexual Orientation/Gender Identity/Title VI/Title VII/Title IX/504/ADA/ADEA employer.

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Re: [Haskell & FP in Education] Welcome and introductions
by erwig 19 Dec '18

19 Dec '18

Hi everyone, Having used Haskell in my graduate and undergrad PL classes for a long time, my recent focus has been on the explanation of computing concepts for non-computer scientists. To this end, I have published a popular science book last year that explains computer science concepts to laypeople [1]. The goal was to specifically reach people who are interested in learning about computing but don't want to learn a programming language first. Once basic concepts are understood, those who remain sufficiently interested can then be introduced to a more formal presentation by employing a programming language. This is where Haskell comes into play. (At the request of my publisher, I have created a Haskell tutorial (incomplete as of yet) with exercises that follows the exposition of the book.) At my university we have employed this approach successfully in the computer science orientation class [2], and we are currently exploring different ways of applying this approach in middle schools (especially in grades 6 and 7). What I am looking forward to hearing about in this forum are the experiences of others in using Haskell for teaching programming and computer science. I am also interested to learn more about different approaches for creating learning environments for using Haskell (including CodeWorld and Helium). It would be great to have a Haskell implementation that provides a number of different complexity levels, e.g. allowing one to selectively turn off type classes, have only one number type, turn off parametric polymorphism, etc. -- Martin [1] Once Upon an Algorithm - How Stories Explain Computing eecs.oregonstate.edu/~erwig/#book [2] Story Programming: Explaining Computer Science Before Coding, J. Parham-Mocello, S. Ernst, M. Erwig, E. Dominguez, and L. Shellhammer, ACM Symp. on Computer Science Education, 2019, to appear. > On Dec 15, 2018, at 2:19 PM, Chris Smith <cdsmith(a)gmail.com> wrote: > > Hello, everyone! Welcome to education(a)haskell.org. > > This mailing list grew out of discussions at ICFP 2018 about creating a space for collaboration and discussion of using Haskell and other functional programming languages in general education. To jump-start that process, I'd like to invite everyone to introduce themselves and specifically share your goals, opportunities, vantage point, and interests. The hope is that we'll be able to sort ourselves into compatible interests and ideas, to kick off more detailed discussion or collaborations. > > Some suggested questions to spur discussion: > > - What education-related projects are you involved in, or have you been involved in previously? > - What other projects do you find exciting, intriguing, or worthy of emulation? > - On the other hand, what projects or conversations should be happening, but are not happening yet? > - Is there anything specific that you are definitely looking for from this space? > - What vision do you have for functional programming in education? That is, what general principles guide your thinking? > > I will reply with my own answers, and encourage you to do the same. > > Thanks, > Chris > > P.S. I realize this email is long past due. Between my job as a software engineer, volunteer teaching, and recent development on CodeWorld, I have again fallen into the trap of over-committing myself and falling behind on outside commitments. I hope that late is still better than never. > _______________________________________________ > Education mailing list > Education(a)haskell.org > https://mail.haskell.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/education

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The "Function Game": written by Michael Snoyman about teaching functional programming to children
by Chris Smith 18 Dec '18

18 Dec '18

This is a quick and fun read. https://www.snoyman.com/blog/2018/12/kids-coding-interlude-the-function-game I'm thinking about incorporating this into my teaching in future classes, though perhaps my students are too old.

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Re: [Haskell & FP in Education] Welcome and introductions
by Chris Smith 18 Dec '18

18 Dec '18

Oops, I accidentally dropped the mailing list. On Mon, Dec 17, 2018 at 3:09 PM Chris Smith <cdsmith(a)gmail.com> wrote: > On Mon, Dec 17, 2018 at 12:25 PM Fernando Alegre <falegre(a)lsu.edu> wrote: > >> I am also testing material for other courses with a couple of teachers >> and also directly with >> a small group of advanced students. I liked the CodeWorld environment so >> much that I decided I would >> try it with the advanced students, and the feedback I got has been very >> interesting. Apart from >> their dislike of the syntax and similar nuances, their main complaint is >> that functional programs >> are too dense, and that increases their cognitive load too much, so that, >> even though they can >> write the code, they do not enjoy doing it. I am struggling to find ways >> to make it more enjoyable >> for them, as it is really fun for me. > > > Thanks for sharing this. I've been thinking about similar things. My > observation is that composing expressions seems to be a very unfamiliar, > and therefore uncomfortable, way of working for many students (perhaps for > many non-students, as well). It's natural for students to worry about what > they need to do, but not about how to connect it to what's already there. > Therefore, they want to just add the right thing in their code. They can > tolerate having to add it between some curly braces. But thinking about > how the new addition is related to the whole, where it fits, and how it's > combined, seems to be a step too far for many. Beginners in imperative > languages have exactly the same problems when they are forced to program > with nested blocks of control flow and other substantial structure. But > imperative code comes with a default aggregation on statements, while the > functional environment mostly forces you to be explicit about how > subexpressions are composed together, from the beginning. > > On the one hand, I'd like to argue that increasing students' familiarity > with this kind of thinking, which I see as part of the essence of a > mathematical world-view, is in fact the goal, and therefore worth doing > regardless of student support. But, if course, you can't really force > anyone to learn anything against their will, so this answer is not > sufficient. In any case, I suspect we're seeing the same thing, and I > think you're right that it's often a fight to get students on-board because > the functional environment asks them for more careful thinking than they > would like it to. If you do find an answer to this, I'd love to see it. > > My best answer so far is to allow students to see the program's structure > in a variety of ways. The "Inspect" button in CodeWorld is an example of > this. When a student shoves something into a drawing at the wrong place > and becomes frustrated, I often find it helpful to ask them to open up the > Inspect dialog, and take a look at how different expressions in their code > define their own pictures, and check that against what they expected. It > helps, but it doesn't make the problem go away. Luite and Shae and I > talked at ICFP this year about a more general-purpose system for examining > the meanings of expressions in a running Haskell program, and I think it's > doable with GHC 8.6 and a lot of work. I'm still waiting on GHCJS to reach > a stable 8.6 milestone before I give it a shot. There's a brief write-up > at https://github.com/google/codeworld/issues/741, but the idea is > certainly not specific to CodeWorld (except for the UI portion). I think > having something like this at one's disposal would make it easier to give > students a feeling for the idea that each of their subexpressions really is > a meaningful value in its own right, and really understanding that as a > tool for comprehending code seems to be the key for getting over the > unfamiliarity and finding the power of this way of working. But, that > could be me just being optimistic. > > Chris >

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