"All the Real Math To Which School (Including College) Refused Yo u Access."

John Voiklis voiklis
Fri Apr 18 14:55:02 PDT 2003


Hello Alan,

You hit it right on the mark with "vectors," but thinking back on it, the
breakdown in communication may have been over the concepts themselves
(despite claims to the contrary). I was discussing this with fellow computer
club mentors and I seem to remember that even the illustrations you sent and
your references to "weighing angle" and "'down track' forces" were greeted
with blank looks. Without dwelling on this sad state of affairs, I simply
want to point out that in "proselytizing" about Squeak we need to keep in
mind that adults, even those in the biz, need the models just as much as
kids; we can't assume an understanding even of simple math and physics.

Best,

J
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-squeakland at squeakland.org
[mailto:owner-squeakland at squeakland.org]On Behalf Of Alan Kay
Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 10:22 AM
To: squeakland at squeakland.org
Subject: RE: "All the Real Math To Which School (Including College)
Refused Yo u Access."


Thanks John --

It would be great if you could list the "language stuff" that causes
the glazing. Do you mean terms like "vectors"? What other terms are
offputting?  One of the reasons this stuff works so well with the
kids is that they just do the models, we don't employ terminology
with them.

Cheers,

Alan

At 8:29 PM -0400 4/16/03, John Voiklis wrote:
>While I did not ask the original question, I thank you, Alan, for these
>helpful hints to the pendulum problem.
>
>Getting back to the imagined book in the subject line and my earlier
>question about whether such a resource exists: the reaction I have gotten
>from all the people with whom I have shared this problem and the hints is
>that they can understand the concepts but not the terminology...at least in
>this instance, it is the language that makes their eyes glaze over. I don't
>present this as a criticism, but, as someone concerned with explaining such
>things to people, it is definitely an important observation; one at least
>that I should keep in mind.
>
>Best,
>
>John


--




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