[Squeakland] Squeak 'non-starter' in U.K. schools?

[Darius Clarke]

Hi Jim, Alan,

"... if it's not in 'The National Curriculum', it won't get taught"

I'm a little confused. This assertion seems to counter the fundamental
concepts & motivations behind Squeak somewhat. Consequently the
complaint about the assertion seems confused.

I, too, believe that the
PC/software/media-content-code-development-tools that this generation
inherits are not a "subject to be taught" but a "communication medium".

To say that "Squeak won't get taught" is like saying "books & magazines
won't get taught", or "overhead projectors & transparencies won't get
taught", or "surfing the web won't get taught". The same could be said
of any teaching medium. The medium is not really ever _in_ the
curriculum. More efficient use of the medium might be in it, such as
video editing, library use, referencing magazines in bibliographies,
etc. but not the medium themselves. Their use is already assumed.

The "Hard fun" is not the learning of Squeak. The "Hard fun" is the
learning of concepts via Squeak, manipulating/testing the concepts, and
manipulating the physical/tangible projects connected to those concepts.
Using Squeak should be dead simple, like "learning the Bunsen burner"
vs. "learning the chemical reactions". When talking about Squeak and
teaching difficult concepts, these two seem to get confused with each
other. Making Squeak dead simple also makes it more viral. We need kids
to share it with kids, teachers exchanging images with teachers, and
children giving images as gifts to parents, thereby increasing
everyone's need for it under its own momentum. Hence, copying and
_transportability_ is essential... and not to be confused with
portability. (Managing and merging classes and images is the issue here
as well as the underlying OS' file system structure and
privacy/security.)

What Squeak provides to the student is what professional software
provides to businesses, a tool that "simulates" and "represents". Squeak
can simulate anything, just about. With accounting systems, CAD,
spreadsheets, and any professional software package you can think of
that has increased business productivity, it gets its leverage from the
fact that it is as simulation of the things that make money, products,
etc. Software gives everyone a handle attached to what they're
manipulating (the content of the pot). I believe this is why Croquet is
3D, to take advantage of more robust simulations (and why Microsoft will
make 3D the fundamental graphics architecture for its upcoming Longhorn
OS http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,1072754,00.asp which, in
turn, is trying to play catch-up with Apple per this report). 

Here is Microsoft's foray into changing education (from a paper last
year): 

Technology, Learning and Scholarship in the Early 21st Century
By Randy J. Hinrichs 
www.conferencexp.net/community/documents/LearningXP.doc 

More MS docs at:
http://www.conferencexp.net/community/Default.aspx?tabindex=2&tabid=27 
And George Lucas' efforts http://glef.org 

"Modeling" and "simulation" is what we should be selling to teachers,
parents, and administrations. ("Simulation" and "Role playing" games in
the student's vernacular.) These can still be done with lists & charts
and w/o graphics & 3D (e.g. Java/Html-Table Unit Tests).

Is excessive testing the problem? Squeak can "embrace and extend" to
overcome that. Can't Squeak simulate a test? Can students represent test
taking skills in Squeak and simulate, model, and statistically analyze
them? Can students create their own tests in Squeak and dynamically link
them to their physics models or literary works? Can students test each
other in Squeak with their "simulated" tests? Can students submit what
the perceive are better tests to the education & governmental
administrators? Can the governmental administrators pass the student
generated tests? :o

Can Squeak help parents better understand what their children are
learning, where the children are weak or where the children accelerate,
suggest how to help their children learn out of school hours, and
suggest how parents themselves can get more help if they are not up to
the task (not to mention keep track of all the forms, announcements, and
due dates for this-that-and-the-other which students bring home)? Now
administrators & parents have a reason to _need_ Squeak. If this is
done, Squeak now simulates the school system and illustrating the rules
behind its weaknesses and strengths. "Simulation" and "representation"
are essential tools to achieve "results based" choices anyway. 

Can Squeak help Grant Proposal reviewers accelerate the time that they
take to review a stack of grant proposals? Can it help provide more
accurate grant reviews and teach how to review grants as well (via
collaboration, tutorials, and a knowledge-base for example)? If so,
mention that fact _in_ the proposal when the Viewpoints Foundation or
Squeak teachers apply for grants! That'll open some eyes.

Squeak should also model the social difficulties our students face
today. Let them explore the full consequences before making life
altering or future limiting decisions. We seem to live in a generation
of adults who never "grew up" and are often ill equipped to teach "what
dire consequences really are" to their children _before_ the children
make irreversible choices. Perhaps Squeak's "one-step Cmd-Z key"
reflects reality too closely there. Still, we should let parents decide
how these models are presented to their children.

Last year I mentored & helped my local High School Robotics Team design
and build a robot for an academic competition that the students treated
with the excitement that they only exhibit at a football match. This was
an after school project and an after work projects for the mentoring
engineers. Here's my summary. 

Can a Robot Carry a High School Student into a Brilliant Future?
http://www.stormpages.com/futureintent/Robotics.htm 

Here's the organization that started this competition 10 years ago and
now hosts this global competition.
http://www.usfirst.org/index2.html

Is there not enough time to do all this? We'll, that's the subject of
another e-mail. US First does this with their Robotics competition
somehow. It's not a "finished product". It's a collection of methods,
rules, rewards, goals, scholarships, events, and galvanized parents,
teachers, sponsors, and students.

Cheers,
Darius

















































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