[Squeakland] Re: Squeaking Homeschoolers?

[Gary Frederick]

Howdy,

Kim Rose wrote:

> 
> Hi, Gary -
> 
> Sounds to me like you are using the "Squeak.org" image/download as 
> opposed to what one gets when they do the download from 
> "Squeakland.org"....(the "Worlds of Squeak" projects come as part of the 
> "Squeak.org" download.)  While these are not really geared to users of 
> your daughter's age, it sounds like she still had some fun.

I'm using both. I used the Squeak.org image while I was getting the 
plugin to work. My daughter is old enough to use both, she helps with 
the younger kids.

> 
> The kids we work with, using the "Squeakland" image, are encouraged to 
> save (publish) their projects (they get saved as a .pr file) and then 
> load them in again to view/play again/change/share.  This way, the image 
> is always "fresh/pristine" and never gets saved....the "project" is the 
> unit to be saved.
> 
> I'd encourge the two of you to look at the "Kids Play" section of the 
> Squeakland site,
> http://www.squeakland.org/kids/kidshome.html
> to see and explore more "kid-created" projects.
> 
> You might also explore this site:
> http://www.pcs.cnu.edu/%7Ercaton/SqIndex/squeakindex.html
> for some wonderful Squeak/Etoy projects created by our colleague, 
> Randall Caton, at NASA.

I'll follow up. Thanks.

> Thanks for the feedback -- feel free to send more as you continue to 
> explore!

I showed one small group of kids Squeak yesterday. They were eager to 
continue working on what the class has been covering and I did not see a 
lot of enthusiasm for Squeak. I will use it in a different class 
tomorrow and will report back on that.

How I showed them:

I put one of the examples from the kid-created projects up and ran it. I 
talked about it a bit and them showed the examples from 'The World of 
Squeak'. We ran the car around the race track and played with some midi 
files. Two of the kids were interested in the music, but commented that 
they had other programs that did what the example did. I would have 
showed them that they could change how it worked if I had looked at how 
to do that before class. We went back to what we were working on. I 
showed the class the 3D example close to the end of class. They have 
worked with Blender and I wanted them to see another bit of software 
that did 3D modeling. They were coming up with suggestions for moving 
the model around and starting to become interested when the class ended )-:

Gary

> regards,
> Kim
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> Howdy,
>>
>> I showed her how to start Squeak and how to run the tutorials I got from
>>   http://www.squeakland.org/author/etoys.html#tutorials
>>
>> I asked her to play with the car example in "The World of Squeak: 
>> Scripts". She did the tutorials, played with the script example and 
>> then looked around. She modified the example, replacing the car with 
>> something that looks more like a LEGO RCX. She added some of the 
>> widgets to the track and set it to go around the track by moving 
>> forward then turning. She then looked at some of the other examples in 
>> "The World of Squeak". She ended up playing with the music examples, 
>> modifying some midi files.
>>
>> She thinks Squeak is worth using more. She said it was confusing at 
>> first and would have liked to have some help as she was getting going.
>>
>> She felt uncomfortable with saving the image at first, wondering if 
>> she would break something when she saved.
>>
>> She had some trouble when she was working with her image. We may get 
>> back with details. She found drawing to be comparable to using the 
>> Paint program on Windows.
>>
>> I asked her to start using Squeak to get a feel for what it is like to 
>> start Squeaking around without much input. We will work with the kids 
>> when we introduce them, giving them support where needed. I'll get 
>> back with anything that seems worth saying as I show kids.
>>
>> Gary
>>
>>
>> Kim Rose wrote:
>>
>>> Hi, Gary -
>>> We'll be interested to learn more about your daughter's experiences 
>>> and thoughts!
>>> thanks,
>>> Kim
>>>
>>>
>>> t 8:55 AM -0600 3/22/04, Gary Frederick wrote:
>>>
>>>> I'm looking over some of the recent messages and came across this one.
>>>>
>>>> I'll be showing homeschoolers Squeak and seeing where they take it 
>>>> over the next little bit. We are working on software that helps you 
>>>> learn to program. I'm thinking of showing one of our classes Squeak 
>>>> today and another Wednesday. The classes are very small (5-6 kids) 
>>>> and the average age is 12. One is all homeschoolers and another is not.
>>>>
>>>>> The first aims for the Squeak etoys were at what we called 
>>>>> "lapware" (a parent with a child on their lap). And we have been 
>>>>> wanting to do a major push for homeschoolers for quite a few years.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I remember our daughter setting on my lap drawing flowers and other 
>>>> shapes with LOGO. Several years later we were looking at Toontalk 
>>>> and remember the fantastic feeling I got as she was 'aha'ing the 
>>>> messaging between processes. She played with some of the etoys 
>>>> yeserday and I look forward to seeing what she came up with. (She is 
>>>> way bigger than lap size now :-)
>>>>
>>>> Gary
>>>>
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