[squeakland] Artifacts in ObjectCatalog
kharness at illinois.edu
kharness at illinois.edu
Wed Jun 2 09:20:33 EDT 2010
Steve,
One my goals in teaching Etoys is that students make projects that will have lasting value. I am thinking of valuable things like a painting they keep, an origami box they made, a recording of them singing, or a story or poem they wrote. It seems to me that Etoys projects can be more like those kinds things that are a product of their mind that they value beyond the day. That said: do children you know save any worksheets and go back to them for enjoyment?
The kinds of projects my students make are meant to be more like an art and less like an assignment that is finished and forgotten. One year I asked students to make Etoys books to teach counting. They all already knew how to count; I was not teaching counting. I was teaching them to use something they knew to help others, to organize and apply their knowledge about Etoys and about counting, to plan and produce a book. The books are somewhat eccentric; there are books that count from 1-10, 1-7, 95-100, that count by 5's, twos, with decimals etc. The topics, illustrations, and text were student decisions. We knew one book might appeal to one person and maybe not others but they followed their own interest when they chose the topic. Students read each others books in class, and once the books were on the web site showed them to other kids in their family. Lots of little brothers and sisters spent some good times with their older siblings.
It seems to me we want children to see opportunities in Etoys rather than more of the same kinds of drills and worksheets they find in the rest of their day. If worksheets are a must, could you teach children to produce their own. I suspect, if you provide Etoys worksheets your good intentions will become what you do not want:> * another method to help kids learn sterile facts
> and mindless disconnected procedures
> * something to be used in drill and kill
> worksheets
I am glad you see the artifacts you are proposing as projects rather than as additional objects for Supplies or the Object Catalog. A library of projects that can be chosen among is vastly different than trying to fit everything to fill every need into the software.
You mention first principles, I'd be interested in know your views about what the first principles are in Etoys.
> Etoys (as near as I can figure) is built upon doing
> everything from first principles, which is part of
> its power and beauty.
> That said I think we need to solve the problem that
> it can take quite a while and not everyone is
> capable of building things from first principles.
> Some higher levels of domain specific abstractions
> are useful and I believe necessary.
Sorry, but I don't understand what is meant by: "Some higher levels of domain specific abstractions are useful". Tell me more please.
Regards,
Kathleen
---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 00:10:14 -0400
>From: Steve Thomas <sthomas1 at gosargon.com>
>Subject: Re: [squeakland] Artifacts in ObjectCatalog
>To: kharness at illinois.edu
>Cc: Hilaire Fernandes <hilaire.fernandes at edu.ge.ch>, "squeakland.org mailing list" <squeakland at squeakland.org>
>
> Folks,
> I had no idea the term Artifact was so loaded.
> So let me expand a bit on what I am thinking about,
> which is somewhat different from what I fear is
> being perceived:
> First what I do not mean:
> * another method to help kids learn sterile facts
> and mindless disconnected procedures
> * something to be used in drill and kill
> worksheets
> * although I fear there is nothing that can
> be done to prevent that use in some cases,
> that should not stop their use for better
> purposes
> * while most worksheets I have seen are "mind
> numbing" at the risk of starting another
> "conversation" I have seen and used some
> very good ones (ex: Miquon)
> * Something to be used for pure assessment
> purposes
> * Pre-constructed answers so kids don't have to
> think
> * gimmicks to "make math interesting" or "cutesy"
> What I am trying to create:
> * A way to "present concepts first" without the
> formulas or notation
> * something that provides concrete metaphors to
> help kids access powerful ideas
> * something kids can play with to explore ideas
> * in the case of Cuisenaire Rods and
> GeoBoards mathematical ones, yet I can
> envision their uses in other areas
> * something that can be used by a student to help
> explore and explain their ideas
> * something that can be used by a teacher to pose
> questions and problems for the kids
> * and yes, something that can help teachers assess
> children's understanding in an efficient and
> effective way and in certain cases provide
> feedback because we can't "put Seymour in the
> box" or a teacher with subject matter expertise
> in all areas (especially hard for elementary
> teachers and teachers in third world countries
> where in some, but not all cases, they are
> learning along with the students.)
> "The Tools to think with/teach with/learn with" are
> not end goals and in fact are in my mind merely
> first steps in providing a set of tools for
> learning.
> These Tools also need appropriate lesson plans or
> what I prefer to think of as scripts for
> improvisation.
> The "Tools to teach with" are things I can use to
> pose problems, assess understanding and challenge
> students existing mental models.
> Some examples are the virtual cuisinaire rods and
> geo-boards.
> Hopefully what I am thinking about will become
> clearer when I produce some more examples and
> perhaps video of how I see them being used.
> As far as whether they should be included in the
> Etoys Object Catalog. At this point I think not.
>
> Etoys (as near as I can figure) is built upon doing
> everything from first principles, which is part of
> its power and beauty.
> That said I think we need to solve the problem that
> it can take quite a while and not everyone is
> capable of building things from first principles.
> Some higher levels of domain specific abstractions
> are useful and I believe necessary.
> Also, Hilaire makes a good point that to make things
> scalable these would need to be done in smalltalk.
> I have other comments on Kathleen and Lockhardt's
> excellent points, but I will spare you (for now ;)
> I need more time to think about them.
> Stephen
> On Sat, May 29, 2010 at 11:45 AM,
> <kharness at illinois.edu> wrote:
>
> Hi Hilaire,
> I looked at the png of the die, dot in table, and
> fraction box and wonder, are they objects like the
> polygon with a dedicated set of tiles or a halo
> menu of options? The label Artifacts is confusing
> me; in schools here the label artifacts can mean
> educational materials used for assessment or, do
> you mean ready-to-use objects?
>
> The Object Catalog and Supplies have similar
> things. Will DrGeo be a new tab in the Object
> Catalog? Do you propose another new category
> called Artifacts in the Object Catalog and then do
> you plan to add many objects to the next release
> of Etoys? Will they all be of special interest to
> math teachers and/or science teachers and at what
> grade levels? Do you know the USEIT adaptations of
> Etoys in use at the University of North Carolina
> Wilmington? The UNCW adaptations are for middle
> and high school science teachers. Are these
> similar to your ideas? Would they fit your
> category of Artifacts?
>
> I am growing more uncertain about what Etoys will
> become if many specialized objects are added. To
> be useful, some of these objects require more
> knowledge in math and science. For example, the
> particles are amazing and whenever I show them to
> science teachers they are a wonderful example of
> using Etoys to explore ideas in physics. They are
> however, sophisticated and difficult for students
> to use without instruction. They are not intuitive
> unless you are already know physics. My elementary
> students click on them in the Object Catalog and
> then are at a loss, they have neither the science
> knowledge nor the programming skills to use them.
>
> Are the teachers you know using Etoys for math
> instruction? The microcosm of the school where I
> work has not shown any interest in using Etoys to
> teach math even though the teachers are always
> impressed with the math students use to make
> projects. The teachers are more concerned with
> following a rigid curriculum that pre-tests,
> introduces concepts, post-tests, bench-marks, and
> quarterly assesses. And all of that
> instruction/assessment is, of course, focused
> toward the standardized tests given in March.
> Their curriculum is too large, time is too short,
> and each concept and skill is given too little
> time to mature. But, that is a problem for the
> math establishment and one of the reasons I like
> Etoys is that it is so much more open ended and so
> much less prescriptive and so much outside of the
> whole assessment environment that is consuming
> education in the US today.
>
> The god of assessment has always had clay feet and
> Diane Ravitch's book, The Death and Life of the
> Great American School System: How Testing and
> Choice Are Undermining Education (New York: Basic
> Books, 2010) gives me hope that we will see less
> emphasis on
> multiple-choice-single-right-answer-learning. I
> would urge that we (Etoys) not spend very much
> time developing subject area electronic worksheets
> and mechanisms that count right/wrong answers and
> keystroke attempts to be part of the software.
> Book publishers routinely provide such materials
> that are specific, sequenced, and aligned and,
> from what I can see, teachers are hard pressed to
> use everything that is already available. If new
> artifacts are being considered as potential
> objects for the next release of Etoys, we should
> start talking about our vision for Etoys and what
> the core of it will be.
>
> Etoys thrives on mathematics and, on imagination,
> but to put too much emphasis on teaching a core
> curriculum of math or science will limit the other
> uses and imagination. My students use math in
> their projects and are indeed learning concepts at
> a deep level but they are not learning the math
> curriculum for their grade. For example, my
> 2nd-5th grade students routinely use test
> statements, create variables, and add random
> number generator tiles to projects. They use xy
> coordinates fluently because they want to control
> locations of objects and to position objects with
> reset scripts. Most of the Races and Mazes in
> EtoysIllinois were made by elementary students and
> show these kinds of applications of learning.
>
> Unfortunately, standardized assessments do not
> assess for this kind of learning and certainly not
> in elementary grades in dynamic environments. My
> sense is that subject area teachers everywhere are
> bound by local, state, and national requirements.
> My hope is that Etoys provides collections of
> projects that show examples for deep learning and
> that as schools react to the growing need for more
> and more people who can program, who can use the
> language of the computer to express ideas, who are
> creative and, who will thrive in the future or, in
> careers that use programming skills, that Etoys
> would be in a position to be adopted as the tool
> for teaching programming in K-12 schools.
>
> Etoys is certainly powerful enough to grow up with
> children from elementary to high school . . .
> without a doubt. It was one of the reasons I first
> considered Etoys, that is, it can not be outgrown
> or worn out in a year or two.
>
> I have written materials that show how easy it is
> to integrate Etoys into core curriculum but in
> every case I find that the core curriculum is
> already full, too full, and very well planned by
> curriculum specialists and that there is no room
> for Etoys in their view of their subject. I said
> this at a MSTE Board of Advisors meeting a year
> ago and Chip Bruce said: if there was no room at
> the table we should make our own table. It seems
> to me, Etoys could make its own table and in doing
> so raise the rather low expectations for what is
> currently passing as computer literacy.
> Keyboarding and using the internet are at a much
> lower level than the most basic Etoys project.
>
> The K-12 cs/programming discipline is very new and
> that is good for us. It is an opportunity for us
> to define what should be. If we can provide a
> cogent set of projects that develop good habits of
> mind, creative, and logical thinking we might find
> Etoys adopted by schools who are looking ahead for
> their students' futures. I would much prefer that
> we build our own table rather than try to squeeze
> Etoys as one more topic into other disciplines
> already full curricula.
>
> My hope is that schools will see the need for
> specialists to teach the subject of programming,
> just as music and art specialists focus on
> providing an excellent general education for all.
> Wouldn't it be grand if children routinely went to
> the computer lab to learn Etoys, just as they go
> to the music room to learn music. You may know, I
> was a music teacher and taught music to everyone
> in the school every year. It was not a course with
> preliminary requirements of talent, IQ, skill,
> interest or, potential for becoming a professional
> musician. Music is part of what it means to be
> educated. If we can align with that kind of
> belief, that knowing how to program, how to use
> the computer creatively to express ideas rather
> than being passive users or used by it, then we
> will have achieved something of value.
>
> I know this note is too long but I hope we can
> start talking about some of these ideas.
> Regards,
> Kathleen
>
> ---- Original message ----
> >Date: Fri, 28 May 2010 09:22:40 +0200
> >From: Hilaire Fernandes
> <hilaire.fernandes at edu.ge.ch>
> >Subject: [squeakland] Artifacts in ObjectCatalog
> >To: "squeakland.org mailing list"
> <squeakland at squeakland.org>
> >
> > Dear all,
> >
> > In the latest Artifacts package at
> >
> (http://www.squeaksource.com/LearningArtifacts) I
> > added a category Artifacts as a place holder
> for the
> > artifacts.
> > See the attached screenshot.
> >
> > I also added an Artifact DotInTable to
> represent
> > collection of token in row and column. It
> can be
> > used to represent graphically the
> multiplication of
> > two integers. The column, row and dot color
> are all
> > Etoys scriptable.
> > Again as an artifact, teacher can invent new
> way to
> > use it and to combine it with other artifacts
> for a
> > teaching purpose.
> >
> > By the way, I tried these artifacts with
> Squeak 4.1
> > and it works perfectly well from there, and
> the
> > Squeak environment is more pleasant to write
> > Smalltlak code.
> >
> > I will continue to add artifacts to this
> package.
> >
> > Hilaire
> >
> > --
> > http://blog.ofset.org/hilaire
> >________________
> >ArtifactsObjectCatalog.png (16k bytes)
> >________________
> >_______________________________________________
> >squeakland mailing list
> >squeakland at squeakland.org
> >http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland
> _______________________________________________
> squeakland mailing list
> squeakland at squeakland.org
> http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland
More information about the squeakland
mailing list