[Squeakland] summary of Squeak course from BJA-C & KR book

[Daniel Green]

   I'd like to say thanks to B.J. Allen-Conn & Kim Rose for the  
excellent book that is, "Using Squeak to Enhance Math and Science  
Learning."  I was looking for material to get a first course in  
Squeak going locally with the science club students, and after  
fretting that I probably would never have enough time to create a  
proper class curriculum for experimenting with Squeak without  
significanly more time spent creating and exploring, I bought the  
book mentioned above.  Wow, that was an answer to prayer.  I ended up  
working with a group of students for 2 hours, and here is some of the  
feedback, just as an FYI and a big thank you to those responsible:
- the university students and professors were wonderful class  
assistants, I basically used the first 4 to 5 projects unaltered
- students registered ahead of time and had 2 hours to go through the  
first 4 or 5 projects which were instructor led
- there were 13 students registered, 10 attended:
	ages:
		8 years old - 1
		10 years old - 1
		12 years old - 4
		13 years old - 2
		14 years old - 2
- questions answered on survey filled out after course:
	"I learned about Squeak today" 10 agree, 0 disagree
	"I would like to learn more about Squeak" 10 agree, 0 disagree
	"The speed & pace was" 7 just right, 3 too fast
	"Squeak is fun" 10 agree, 0 disagree
	"Teachers & Assistants are helpful" 10 agree, 0 disagree
- specific suggestions received:
	1) longer session, wanted to do more
	2) it was fun and you should do more presentations
	3) make workshop 2 hours and 30 minutes, not 2 hours
	4) it was cool
	5) it was well presented and I learned enough to keep experimenting
- I'm looking forward to attending SqueakFest 2006 this Summer and  
plan to have follow-up classes when school starts up again -- there  
certainly was interest in continuing  to learn and do more

   Thanks again to B.J. Allen-Conn & Kim Rose for making an excellent  
resource available.

   Best regards,

-- DanG
Daniel Green