Introducing children and/or school to Squeak
John Steinmetz
johns
Fri Apr 18 14:53:20 PDT 2003
You'll hear from others about curricula, but I want to suggest that
children under age 11 or so should stay away from computers. There are
various reasons, some physical/neurological, some pedagogical, but for me
the main reason is that young children have very, very important things to
do which cannot be done on a screen. In addition, looking at screens may be
harmful for children's physical and neurological development.
For an excellent review of research on children and computers--and it is
shocking how little research has been done to support the wholesale
adoption of computers by schools--see "Fool's Gold: A Critical Look at
Computers in Childhood," available as a free download or a $14 volume ($12
for multiple copies) from the Alliance for Childhood,
www.allianceforchildhood.net, phone 301-513-1777 or email to
info at allianceforchildhhod.net.
I love Squeak's possibilities for older students and adults. While helping
to develop those possibilites, I mostly keep my own kids, age 5 and 12,
away from the computer.
John
>I have two sons, ages 7 and 10, who attend a local charter school. The
>school has a very nice computer lab with both Macintosh and Windows-based
>PCs. The school currently covers K-5 but in the fall will be expanding to
>include grades 6-8. The school does use computers in conjunction with the
>curriculum, but the students are pretty much limited to the use of
>HyperStudio to do their work.
>
>I am very interested in getting Squeak introduced to our school. I think
>it would offer the students the ability to do far more than
>HyperStudio. However, I'm not sure how to get the school to look into
>Squeak. Are there any Squeak-based curriculums available which I could
>demo to the teachers to show how Squeak might be used in a school
>environment? I know I could show them Squeakland, but I think they would
>want to have some more ideas on how to actually teach and use Squeak. Even
>if the school doesn't want to use Squeak, I work with a couple of people
>with school age kids who are interested in introducing Squeak to our
>children. I would be very interested in ideas for projects for kids in the
>7-12 age group and tips on how to introduce Squeak to kids.
>
>Thanks.
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