Hinweis zum Tutorial "MetaTalk Programmer"
(von der Metacard Site "http://www.metacard.com/pi6.html")
The free MetaTalk Programmer package is a self-contained computer programming
course for middle and high schools. A MetaCard license is not required to use
the MetaTalk Programmer curriculum to teach computer programming concepts and
techniques.
Why choose MetaTalk Programmer to teach computer programming?
It's fun!
One of the things that frustrates students about schoolwork is the lack of applicability
to their lives and interests. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that students
tend to pay more attention and try harder when a lesson is interesting to them.
For this reason, MetaTalk Programmer stresses a high interest, hands-on approach
to programming. Students create interesting programs from day one, and the more
complicated the scripting gets, the more interesting the programs are.
The MetaTalk Programmer application is constructed with three goals in mind:
1. Each of the 20 lessons will be able to be accomplished within a 30 minute time period.
2. Each lesson will contain extension activities for students who can handle an accelerated pace.
3. Every 5 lessons will be a comprehensive review of all techniques covered
to that point.
Middle school students can learn it.
Computer programming is something that has always been seen as a "high
math" skill, out of reach for most "average" people, and certainly
beyond the reach of children. And originally, this may have been the case...
but it is not the case today. This unit is designed to teach basic concepts
of computer programming to ANY middle school student, regardless of their mathematical
background.
When you mention programming to most people, they imagine thousands of lines of obscure symbols and numbers, and some programming does look like that. But this unit uses a very advanced programming language called "MetaTalk", which closely resembles English. Look at the following line of MetaTalk code:
answer 2 + 2
This particular example of MetaTalk code would do just as you suspect it would... add 2 and 2 and answer 4. Not all code will be as easy to relate to, but the point is that real words and phrases are used to program instead of obscure symbols and numbers.
MetaTalk is the perfect language for beginning computer programmers or anyone with an interest in programming, because it so closely resembles English. In fact, MetaCard's programming language is one of several "Scripting" languages... titled scripting because it resembles English, and it controls a program much in the way that a script directs an actor or actress.
MetaTalk Programmer features some of the commands and structures that one will
find in almost every other programming language. The logical thought process
learned in MetaTalk Programmer can easily be applied when learning another programming
language, or when working in a logical mathematics area such as Algebra.
It's valuable.
MetaTalk Programmer can be used by teachers with no programming experience or
background. Teachers may discover, however, that they become interested in programming
after using this unit! Programming is both challenging and rewarding, and can
be very beneficial to both students and adults. It offers a unique combination
of logical thinking and creativity not found in any other educational activity.
Programming is an area experiencing tremendous growth in the job market, and
it has a very promising future. The introduction to programming offered in MetaTalk
Programmer might be a turning point for that one quiet student who sits in the
back of your classroom, full of creativity, just waiting for an opportunity
to demonstrate it.
MetaTalk Programmer runs on all platforms supported by the MetaCard Starter kit, which you must install before you can use MetaTalk Programmer. After installing the Starter Kit, run MTP by double-clicking on it, dragging it to the MetaCard engine, or starting up MetaCard and opening "mtp.mc" from the File/Open... menu. You may need to set the file type of the stack to "MCRDMSTK" on MacOS systems to open it with methods 1 and 3.
You can download MTP and the teachers guide by clicking on the links below. If you get a screen full of characters, shift or control-click on the link and choose to "save" from the popup menu.
mtp.mc
mtpguide.mc
To learn more about the goals and prerequisites for the course, be sure to click on the "Teachers Guide" link on the main menu page. After completing the MTP course, students will probably want to start using the full MetaCard development environment and the free Starter Kit version of MetaCard is a good place to start. When they want to build larger products than the Starter Kit allows, an upgrade to a full license is in order.
K-12 schools (elementary through high school) can purchase unlimited usage MetaCard licenses starting at $250 (U.S. Dollars) for a 10 user lab pack. No smaller-quantity licenses are available through this program. Contact MetaCard Corporation for information on larger license packages.