[squeakland] Etoys Video's for Khan Academy

[karl ramberg]

On Sat, Jun 4, 2011 at 12:37 AM, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 16:04, karl ramberg <karlramberg at gmail.com> wrote:
> > The feeling of achievement is important and will help motivate students.
> > In Etoys you have the full environment available at all time.
> > It has a steep learning curve and quite error pron.
>
> I have a page at Sugar Labs called The Undiscoverable, which mentions
> Etoys but does not give many details. I would like help filling it in.
>
> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/The_Undiscoverable
>
> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/The_Undiscoverable/Etoys

A couple

Holders act as collections
Variable types


>
>
> > To not pace out the way to use the system can demotivate and give
> students a
> > hard time.
> > It's a big project to make it seem like a game to unlock the secrets
> > without crippling the system at the same time.
>
> But totally worth the effort.
>
> > Also to measure or give a
> > test automatically of how much a student know or can solve problems is
> hard
> > when the possible ways to solve problems are almost infinite. One goal of
> > the system is to make it possible for students to be creative and find
> their
> > own ways to solve problems.
>
> You are asking for the solution to an undecidable problem.
> Wittgenstein's Philosophical Investigations is devoted entirely to the
> question, "How can we tell whether another person understands us?"
> (Short answer: You can't, except to a very limited degree in very
> limited  areas, and you have to make do with that. Longer answer, even
> though in fewer words: We will be able to do this to a fair degree
> when we solve Strong AI.)
>
> Within the limits of what we can verify, we can do a much better job
> than is conventionally attempted, but it will be quite difficult to
> convince the political authorities and much of the populace of that
> fact. Sometimes the problem is not with evidence, as in the case of
> tests for creativity and for racism, which are well-established, but
> not acceptable to the Religious Right, among others.
>
> > Video lectures can be a nice way to introduce both easy parts and
> > hard-to-discover parts of Etoys
>
> +1
>

I looked at http://projecteuler.net/ and thought it is a step in the right
direction,
One can use Etoys to achieve solve these problem,
Without a goal it's easy to loose focus and see tutorials as they come
without context.
With a goal in mind a tutorial can help you achieve that  goal

Karll


>
> > Karl
> > On Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 9:15 PM, Steve Thomas <sthomas1 at gosargon.com>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> In the OLPC News article How Khan Academy Can Help OLPC it was stated:
> >>
> >> A. In terms of Theways of a Basics
> >>
> >> Khan Academy covers almost every basic academic subject in its videos.
> In
> >> addition, it has one hundred sets of math exercises. OLPC could either
> use
> >> the exercises from the website or rewrite the programs to make them work
> >> offline in Sugar. Problem Solved.
> >>
> >> Okay, well how much disk space would that take?
> >>
> >> I like the idea of re-writing them. The videos as introduction to
> concept
> >> via demonstrations, visual models, playthinks and excercise that can
> (and
> >> should) be done w/o a computer.  For exercises I am working on basic
> >> configuration/generation engines for creating exercises so teachers can
> >> easily generate their own exercises using a set of "playthinks" for
> >> particular concepts.  For example: Cuisenaire Rods (some with vector
> arrows)
> >> is a great tool for learning.  I built a number line where you can set
> the
> >> unit to a particular rod and provide a playfield so things snap to grid.
> >> Another example is my OOO tools where you have "operation blocks" that
> you
> >> can drag numbers or other objects that represent numbers into the
> operations
> >> and play games/excercies like "How many ways can you name 15.
> >>
> >> I could use some help and collaborators as there is a lot to do to
> create
> >> an OER that is a textbook/workbook replacement.
> >>
> >>
> >> D. In terms of the Teacher/Developer Communication Dilemma
> >>
> >> I was talking to Bert Freudenberg the other day about developing video
> >> tutorials for eToys, and he said there would need to be about 100 to
> give a
> >> complete tutorial of the program. Imagine if Khan Academy could help us
> pull
> >> those videos together. With video tutorials, developers and teachers
> >> wouldn't have to communicate at all! I'm sure this a big relief for both
> >> parties. Problem Solved.
> >>
> >> Name the 100 topics and I will start making the videos (I already have a
> >> number of "Etoys Minutes")
> >>
> >> B. In terms of Motivation into Exploratory Learning
> >>
> >> In an ideal world, kids would pick up the laptops and go to town on all
> >> the amazing programs available on the XO. But that just isn't how it
> works,
> >> because there is more immediate gratification to be found in simple
> games
> >> and Facebook. You and I know that exploring the world of science, art,
> math,
> >> and literature is much more satisfying than whatever instant
> satisfaction
> >> Facebook or (non-educational) online games can provide. But kids don't
> yet,
> >> so we need to get our hooks in first. Khan Academy does this through a
> >> system based on gaming, with badges and rewards, just like Xbox Live or
> the
> >> PlayStation Network. Problem Solved.
> >>
> >> Yes providing game mechanics (like bages and awards) and tracking is a
> >> nice touch and hooking into the Khan Academy system (or Sugar providing
> its
> >> own system) would be nice. Also I like the idea of "disconnected from
> the
> >> network" XO so there are less "distractions" (no I am not suggesting
> that
> >> kids can't access the internet, but as a parent and working with kids,
> >> having no TV/Computers/Electronics time has its advantages.  Perhaps a
> >> "Internet is turned off until you do the following tasks option. For
> those
> >> who don't like this and think kids should have full access to everything
> all
> >> the time, think of it as a motivation for hacking and getting
> peer-to-peer
> >> networking working so they can find other distractions ;)
> >>
> >> C. In terms of the Impending Evaluation and Testing
> >>
> >> The people want proof. If governments or private schools are going to
> >> employ this system, they’re going to want evidence that the program
> works in
> >> some measurable way. We can talk all day about the evils of evaluation
> but
> >> the fact is that it exists and we need to deal with if we want this to
> >> work.
> >>
> >> Testing is already built into the Khan System, so teachers and students
> >> can track their own progress. The system is measured whenever it is
> employed
> >> in a new school, and the statistics show that it WORKS. Problem Solved.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> I agree wholeheartedly with the first comment "people want proof" and
> yes
> >> I know and agree with the "evils of testing," but we need to deal with
> the
> >> political realities if we want to have a larger impact.
> >> My question is how exactly do we use/hook into the "Testing" in Khan
> >> Academy?  Should Sugar provide some method of tracking (as anathema as I
> >> imagine this may be to some)?
> >>
> >> How do you folks envision working together with Khan Academy? Would they
> >> be open to it?
> >>
> >> Stephen
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >> squeakland at squeakland.org
> >> http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland
> >>
> >
> >
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> >
>
>
>
> --
> Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
> Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
> The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
>
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