[Squeakland] ideas to promote squeak in telecenters in Brazil

[subbukk]

On Monday 21 May 2007 8:24 am, Marta Voelcker wrote:
> We are thinking about to start with a group of age around 10 and another
> group around 15. We would choose one  telecenter and plan to  work there (
> instead of train their staff).
Wonderful. I have seen children as young as six enjoy the discovery process so 
integral to learning. Squeak has very few distractions in its UI and allows 
one to devote more time to 'thinking' and 'doing'. Some of the morphs (like 
color) are too fine for small hands and the mouse is a terrible input device 
for drawing fine curves but it is still a great 'place' to learn.
> But what would we teach? Should we keep thinking in project-based learning?
> When we use  other software we frequently start working with  identity
> construction, and after some exploration of the software, the group starts
> a project...
Training may be required in basic skills like pointing, clicking, dragging and 
combining them with shift/ctrl/alt keys (think of them like driving controls 
in a car). A good glossary is helpful because Squeak's terminology is geeky 
(in English atleast). I hope the Portugese terminology is easier on common 
folks.  Beyond these basic skills and terminology, It is best to let learners 
experiment and discover than to 'teach' them a particular way of doing 
things. Different strokes for different folks.
> But to understand the basis of squeak, the "drive a car " project seems so
> important!!!
There are lots of nice projects in Squeakland that learners can take apart and 
study on their own. Etoys version comes with many tutorials built right into 
it.
> Ideas, experiences and suggestions are welcome!
For me, picking the right image was the most difficult part, since many images 
on Squeak web site target expert programmers. Squeakland site has some good, 
stable ones for beginners.

Images are like 'little schools' that can be carried along on flash memory or 
portable hard disks and used anytime on any computer to stimulate thinking 
and learning. Unfortunately, Squeak is not self-correcting like Montessori 
toys :-(. So encourage your learners to make copies of their images to 
preserve their work and give them pet names :-).

Learning Squeak is like learning swimming. Real learning happens only when you 
get into the pool with a few other swimmers, not when reading about swimming 
in books or listening to lectures. Working in small groups of 3 to 7 is a 
good way to come upto speed.

Happy Learning .. Subbu