Squeak ideas for a classroom/clubhouse

[Anindita]

Hi Jahanzeb,

Great questions! These come up in every new environment and I think you're
on exactly the right track for trying to create a stimulating learning
environment.

I'm a Media Labber, Future of Learning Group with David Cavallo, although
I don't think I met you when you visited. I did my Master's thesis work
with Squeak, but my work was more around expression, working with children
to make interactive poetry and narratives in a Squeak environment. I'd
just like to add on to some of the responses that were already posted.

> 1) How does one act as a facilitator in such an open setting with Squeak,
> so as to allow diverse views of what each wants to do, but still make sure
> that there is some learning (and not just air guitaring) going on? There is
> so much you can do with Squeak (no ceiling), but how does one try to nudge
> it along lines that will lead to good learning -- or is that a
> contradiction in terms?

Have a lot of examples ready (whether of your creation or from the
SuperSwiki). Show kids examples to inspire them, show them what's posible
in the environment and dive into some Squeak basics for how to draw,
create objects, script objects, etc. One of the good things about Squeak
is that you can make something happen very quickly. Show a lot of
different types of examples. Some kids might be interested in steering a
car while others might find a frame by frame animation of a bouncing ball
more compelling. I think the key here is to give them some concrete
examples of what's possible and work with them from there, and the
examples should include things from code snippets to genre (games,
narrative, etc.) Usually the projects that people of all ages pick are
complex and then your part is to help them through it. As a facilitator,
you can also ask why and how-- why does this work? how did you do it? is
there some other way you could have done this?

> 2) How does one introduce the medium as something that is infinitelly
> malleable, and that it is ok to add/change something if you don't like it?
> For instance, the lack of a 'move sideways' tile (like the 'forward by')
> tile means that kids will have to start off controlling their
> game-characters with a move forward/backward, turn left/right instruction
> set, and so can't start off by making a Pac-Man type game (which needs to
> move left/right, and not turn). Should I create a 'move sideways' tile
> beforehand, or try to help them make it themselves as they require it?

I like what John Maeda says about artists's tools-- that artists should
create their own tools, otherwise they will be limited by what the
designer of the tool had in mind.

You will not be able to provide tools for every action that any child
wants to perform. The basic principle behind creating constructionist
tools is to provide children with tools with which they can create and
express. They can determine both what they would like to express and how
they will do it. Of course this doesn't mean you have to be totally
hands-off and the children must invent everything by themselves, but this
is where you as a facilitator can see first if the child needs or wants
help and then determine what would be the most constructive way to work on
the script-- maybe act it out to understand the logic? maybe draw it?
maybe look at a related piece of code to understand how it works and then
write new code?

> 3) The main reason I pushed to have classes of diverse ages was that the
> young ones will be able to learn from what the elder kids are doing, and
> will also get a sense of self-respect by working on the same environment as
> elder kids. Should we be giving different problems to the younger ones to
> solve, or not? Could anyone on the mailing list (who has experience with
> such age ranges in such classes) tell me about their own experiences, if
> possible?

My experience was actually that the younger kids picked up the Squeak
basics faster than the older kids and were more willing to experiment,
although the older kids ended up going further once they got into it.

> 4) The social relevance of education is something that is touched upon most
> by Paulo Freire, who said that imported curricula aren't adequate because
> they lack relevance to the sociocultural environment, particularly in
> developing countries. Does anyone have any experience in addressing these
> concerns best through the use of environments such as Squeak?

I think the point here is that you aren't importing a curriculum, even
some sort of Squeak curriculum. You're trying to create an open space in
which the children can take ownership of their learning. It isn't Freire's
"banking" model of learning in which children are stuffed with facts and
every so often they're extracted. The only real problem I can see here is
with language. Do the children speak English or is there a version of
Squeak in a local language and script?

> Our twice-weekly sessions with the kids in their school labs begin this
> Tuesday, so whatever you could tell me before then would be extremely helpful.

Sorry I'm a little late with this, but hope this helps!


Anindita Basu

________________
Visiting Scholar
Future of Learning
MIT Media Lab