[ANN] Fun programming with your kids

Ed Boyce edboyce at bu.edu
Sat Jul 30 12:44:42 UTC 2005


Stephane,

   I just purchased your book, which will arrive on Monday, for
introducing my almost-9 y.o. daughter Quincy to more formal experience
in Squeak than she's had so far.  Quincy is an academically accelerated
homeschooler who has used computers (with various operating systems)
since the age of 1.  Quincy has played around with EToys and Croquet
but not with any organized sustained curriculum plan, and tends to have
high visual excitement and creativity expectations from software.  I
will try using your Bots, Inc. book, along with BJ Conn/Kim Rose
"Powerful Ideas in the Classroom" book as texts for her first "course"
in computer science.

   We'll let you know how it goes.

   Additionally, I'm going to try to incorporate the defunct MathMorphs
material into her Math curriculum.  I'm wondering whether you know of
anyone else who may have a keen interest in reviving that project?


      Best Regards,

         Ed Boyce


-----------------------------------------------------
Ed Boyce
Education and Outreach Writer/Editor
Coordinator, Visualize Education Virtual Institute
Engaging People in CyberInfrastructure (EPIC) Program
http://www.eotepic.org

Boston University Center for Computational Science
3 Cummington Street, 5th Floor
Boston, Massachusetts  02215

413-245-3997
edboyce at bu.edu
------------------------------------------------------


stéphane ducasse said:
> Hi
>
> If you are a parent, an educator or a programmer having kids this is
> for you! After 4 years of work, my new book "Squeak: Learn
> programming with Robots" will be out soon
>
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1590594916/
> qid=1117218524/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-5642974-5143261?v=glance&s=books
>
> http://smallwiki.unibe.ch/botsinc/
> With Bots Inc you will learn how to program robots in an interactive
> environment. Bots Inc proposes three teaching approaches: direct
> command of robots, scripting robots and programming robots. The book
> contains 24 chapters going step by step over topics with a lot of
> examples. Bots Inc is fun but it is not a toy, it teaches you 100%
> real programming in Smalltalk: a pure object-oriented programming
> language that has been copied by Java. Bots Inc is built on top of
> the rich open-source multimedia Squeak environment that you can also
> discover.
>
> My goal is to explain key elementary programming concepts (such as
> loops, abstraction, composition, and conditionals) to novices of all
> ages. I believe that learning by experimenting and solving problems
> with fun is central to human knowledge acquisition. Therefore, I have
> presented programming concepts through simple but not trivial
> problems such as drawing golden rectangles or simulating animal
> behavior. The ideal reader I have in mind is an individual who wants
> to have fun programming. This person may be a teenager or an adult, a
> schoolteacher, or somebody teaching programming to children in some
> other organization. Such an individual does not have to be fluent in
> programming in any language. As a father of two young boys I also
> wrote this book for all the parents that want to have fun programming
> with their kids in a powerful interactive environment. Programming in
> Smalltalk is an interactive, fun but deep experience.
>
> Testimonies
>
> "I am using the version of the book on your web site to teach my
> oldest daughter Becca some programming. She absolutely loves it. We
> are doing the Bot graphics right. My other kids are showing interest
> as well. My Fall semester schedule leaves me with almost no time free
> but in the Spring I hope to bring Squeak and your book to our
> elementary school's "gifted" program." C. David Shaffer
>
> "I'm using the Bot Lab environment for three years and found it
> really valuable in teaching computer science concepts for a young
> audience (and even less young !). The bots commanded through balloon
> (as in comic strips) is a very nice introduction for young children,
> and when this aspect is well understood, you can use the Bot
> Workspace to teach the notion of script, a first step in programming
> languages. The Micro Browser allows children to add new behavior for
> their bots, and have fun with their creation. This three-layers tool
> - Balloon, Micro Workspace, Micro Browser - offers to the teacher a
> fun way to introduce gently the basis of object-oriented programming
> concepts. With Bots Inc, learning is playing ! ;-)" Samir Saidani -
> University of Caen - France
>
> "I recently started a course with 7th-graders (age about 13 years)
> with Stephane's book --- they love it. They all know about syntactic
> issues from maths --- in a way they know that an expression in a
> formal language must be well formed. So they easily grasp the fact
> such as "there must be a colon after the message-name if an argument
> follows". Of cause they don't really read the error-messages, they
> just see "there must be some error" and they remember the simple
> rules. Don't underestimate Smalltalk --- it's easy understandable
> because it has a simple and straight-forward design." Klaus Fuller -
> Germany
>
> Have fun...please distribute
>
> Stef
>
>
> http://www.iam.unibe.ch/~ducasse/
>   "if you knew today was your last day on earth, what would you
>   do different? ...  especially if,  by doing something different,
>   today might not be your last day on earth" Calvin&Hobbes
>
>
>
>
>
>






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