squeakland May 2003

squeakland@lists.squeakfoundation.org

27 participants
40 discussions

Mailing list changes
by m.rueger＠acm.org 05 May '03

05 May '03

Hi all, last night a membership reminder was sent out to subscribers from the new mailing list system we are setting up right now. It is not yet fully functional, but already reminded all of you that it is there ;-) Please ignore the message for now, I will sent out an update as soon as we actually switch over. The new list software has a web interface making it easier to change subscription options, have message digests delivered etc. Regards Michael

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Seeking compelling high school examples
by Kim.Rose＠viewpointsresearch.org 05 May '03

05 May '03

-- Greetings - Viewpoints Research is working on updating the Squeakland.org website. As part of this project, we wish to point to a variety of schools, groups, community centers, etc. using Squeak (the Etoy-tile scripting component) and include interesting project examples. If you have any examples that might be suitable to the high school level and would be willing to share we'd love to see them. Pointing us to a url might be simplest, if possible. We'll certainly give appropriate credit, etc. for examples used. Is anyone out there working with high school students and/or creating examples appropriate for that age learner? thanks in advance! Kim

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Pendulum project update
by tacmanphil＠mac.com 05 May '03

05 May '03

So, I've done a little reading (Physics Made Simple, etc,) and most recently consulted with a physics professor who happens to be in the family. As a result, I'm fairly (if not completely) convinced that creating a realistic pendulum is well beyond what 5th graders could do. I'm not even sure if I'll ever be able to complete the project myself. I have learned a lot about pendulums, gravity, etc. I realize now that my pendulum does not reflect reality because it moves at a steady rate through it's swing when, in fact, a pendulum accelerates in its downward motion and decelerates in its upward motion. In order to simulate reality I need to be able to change the rate of acceleration of the heading of my pendulum. I now have a formula that would accomplish this, however, it includes a square root function. Is that possible in the etoy environment?

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Pendulum project update
by darius＠inglang.com 05 May '03

05 May '03

Andreas, Scary! Using your project and unmodified script, I rotated the pendulum so that the bob started above horizontal and then started the timer. The pendulum accelerated! (Great for a perpetual motion machine. You need to patent it.) I know that's the code (limits) and not your challenge. Does the pendulum accelerate at the same speed and travel distance as a free falling object starting at the same height? Or does, assuming a frictionless pivot, the limited length of the shaft slow its rate acceleration? Cheers, Darius

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pendulum
by rcaton＠cnu.edu 05 May '03

05 May '03

I apologize if someone already posted a pendulum solution. Attached is a Squeak solution to the problem assuming the small angle approximation (theta is approximately sine theta) and starting the pendulum from rest. It uses the same motion ideas of position, velocity, and acceleration as the freefall problem already discussed. It uses simple Squeak blocks to approximate the solution by solving two first order differential equations numerically and displaying the result as a moving pendulum - very similar to the freefall problem. The added twist is that the acceleration depends on position (in this case an angle). It could be the next problem after freefall. I'm not sure how to teach it to young kids, but if they got the freefall problem, then ask them: "Now what if the acceleration isn't constant? Let's find out." You can experiment to see the effect of mass, gravity, and length. There is no effect from mass - it is put in because it is a common misconception. Probably there should be an angle watcher so that starting angle could be varied, however the simple solution modeled here breaks down for large angles and that would have to be carefully explained. Randy Caton -- I am on leave from Christopher Newport University from Fall 2002 to Fall 2004. I will be at NASA Langley Research Center. However, I will still use rcaton(a)cnu.edu as my email. Randall Caton NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA 23681-2199 voice: 757-864-5032 FAX: 864-8835 email: rcaton(a)cnu.edu web: www.pcs.cnu.edu/~rcaton

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Summer SqueakFest - Join us in Chicago!
by Kim.Rose＠viewpointsresearch.org 05 May '03

05 May '03

-- The Interactive Multimedia and Early Childhood Education Programs at Columbia College Chicago and Viewpoints Research Institute invite you to Summer SqueakFest03 on the shores of Lake Michigan in Chicago. SqueakFest03 will be Wednesday, August 6, to Friday, August 8 (two full-day sessions on Wednesday and Thursday, and a morning session on Friday). There is no registration fee. Columbia has negotiated workshop rates at the adjacent Congress Hotel of $109 per night (single and double occupancy). Continental breakfasts and boxed lunches will be provided. SqueakFest03 is also co-sponsored by Columbia's School of Media Arts and School of Liberal Arts and Sciences, home, respectively, of the Interactive Multimedia and Early Childhood Education Programs. In addition to a workshop on using the Etoy component of Squeak, we thought that it was time to try to assemble a critical mass of folks to discuss best-practices and practical considerations. We hope that attendees will arrive with examples and details of student projects, lesson plans, assessment details, stories, anecdotes, pedagogical approaches, and the like. What worked? What didn't work? Why? What can we draw as conclusions, learn from, and do differently (or the same) in the future. Most importantly: What can we learn from, and teach, each other? We welcome participants from elementary, junior high, and high schools, and education programs at institutions of higher-education. There will be plenty of time for attendees to break out into sessions by subject areas and by grades. There will also be time for educators to provide feedback on teaching and using Squeak (features? interface? implementation?) to the developers. At the conclusion of SqueakFest03, the IM Program will post and serve Squeak projects brought to or sent to the workshop. Columbia College Chicago is the country's largest arts, media, and communications school, with an enrollment approaching 10,000 students, and offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees. At the undergraduate level, it is open-admissions, by mission and philosophy. It is located in Chicago's South Loop, adjacent to Grant Park and Lake Michigan, and is convenient to the city's many museums and other cultural and popular attractions. Attendance will be limited. Reply with your interest to: Kim Rose: Kim.Rose(a)viewpointsresearch.org AND Wade Roberts: wroberts(a)colum.edu Columbia College Chicago: http://www.colum.edu Interactive Multimedia Program home: http://interactive.colum.edu Early Childhood Education Program: http://www.colum.edu/undergraduate/earlychildhood/index.html IM/ECE partnership: http://interactive.colum.edu/partnerships_ece.aspx Hope to see you in Chicago! Wade & Kim

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Pendulum, etc.
by sheine.mankovsky2＠tdsb.on.ca 05 May '03

05 May '03

Phil, I hope you enjoyed the Seder you attended:) It occurred to me that there may be members of this Squeak community who don't have any context for the word "seder". Two sites that looked promising for those who may be interested in some general information are http://www.holidays.net/passover/ and http://learn.jtsa.edu/passover/. I chose these somewhat arbitrarily. Another site, www.passover.net offers information in Spanish, Italian and French, in addition to English. It is sponsored by Chabad Lubavitch and is Orthodox in its orientation. Sheine > -----Original Message----- > From: Phil Firsenbaum [SMTP:tacmanphil@mac.com] > Sent: Thursday, April 17, 2003 5:39 PM > To: squeakland(a)squeakland.org > Subject: Re: Pendulum > > Interesting...I actually saw this message on the Squeak archive. i > didn't receive it on the mailing list, though. > > Anyhow, even if the pen were down and the pendulum simulated reality i > think it would draw lines on top of lines unless the area under the > pen was scrolling. Do you see what I mean? > I'm still hoping to get the pendulum to work although maybe that's not > as important as the thinking about pendulum that I've been forced to > do. I think it would be really powerful to get kids involved. We should > try it out before the year is out...with something that's doable, or > maybe not > Wouldn't it be nice to have at least a few other teachers involved in > this conversation? From PS 87 or from the local PDS? Is there a grant > opportunity lurking in here someplace? > > Off to a Seder now...enjoy! > Phil > > > On Wednesday, April 16, 2003, at 07:23 PM, Robyn Ulzheimer wrote: > > > So I've been reading all of the emails. I had this idea about using the > > pen. When the pendulum was swinging if the pen was down, it would draw > > the arc. However, it wouldn't look like the Robolab one (at least not > > yet) but could it evenutally? Just a thought as I was sitting in > > traffic > > on the way home tonite. > > > > > > Robyn > >

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"All the Real Math To Which School (Including College) Refuse d Yo u Access."
by G.J.Tielemans＠dinkel.utwente.nl 05 May '03

05 May '03

for secundary schools we use a system called video-measuring (IP-coach) Children make a video of a phenomena and then play it back picture-by-picture. On each picture they put a cross-mark for the place of the moving object. In a graph interface the resulting place-time graph is depicted. -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- Van: Alan Kay [mailto:Alan.Kay@squeakland.org] Verzonden: zondag 20 april 2003 2:56 Aan: squeakland(a)squeakland.org Onderwerp: Re: "All the Real Math To Which School (Including College) Refused Yo u Access." Hi Bert -- At 6:57 PM +0200 4/19/03, Bert Freudenberg wrote: >Am Donnerstag, 17.04.03 um 21:24 Uhr schrieb Alan Kay: > >>I think lots of insight can be gained by seeing what the "weighing >>angles" illustration is all about. >> >>Notice that when the angle is 90? the scale will measure the full >>weight of the dumbell and wheels. When the angle is 0?, the scale >>will show zero weight. In between, the scale will show the weight >>of the dumbell and wheels in the direction down the inclined plane. >>"Weight" is actually defined as the mass of an object times the >>force of gravity on it ( w = mg ). > >If I were picking nits I'd point out that actually weight is a force >(measured in Newtons), not gravity. Force is mass times acceleration >(Newton's second law). So in this special case, weight is mass times >gravitational *acceleration*. Weight is only another term for >gravitational force. But you knew that ;-) > >> So what we are seeing on the scale is the differential effect of >>gravity down inclined planes at different angles. >> >>If we use a protractor to tilt the inclined plane (say) every 5? >>then we can write down the different forces down the plane. If we >>divide these numbers by the maximum weight when the angle is 90, we >>will get numbers between 0 and 1. These numbers can be put into a >>holder as a table of values and used in a wide variety of projects, >>including making a roller coaster. So there is no need to use the >>idea of "sine" -- and this makes projects that need these ratios -- >>like roller coasters -- much more in the range of 5-7th graders. > >What do you think of measuring the forces in the Etoy itself (for >example, by taking the vertical extent of a rotated line)? Of >course, I can see the value of using real-world data. I think this is really important at this stage. This is one of the relatively few phenomena that is both very interesting, useful, and measurable by the kids. This "weighing angles" idea cuts through a lot of steps and gets right to a way to determine the differential accelleration down the plane by directly referring to the phenomena. > Do you think it's too large a step to "see" the height of the >angle, which is proportional to the force? It shouldn't be too hard for adults ... heh heh. But kids are just learning about proportions (in the US they generally don't learn proportions successfully and operationally). I think this is a very good thing to point out after they have their simulated cars successfully going down different planes at the correct accellerations (Note that this can be done via one of the touch tests between the sim car and the sim plane.) Cheers, Alan > >-- Bert -- --- Incoming mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.474 / Virus Database: 272 - Release Date: 18-4-2003 --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com). Version: 6.0.474 / Virus Database: 272 - Release Date: 18-4-2003

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"All the Real Math To Which School (Including College) Refused Yo u Access."
by voiklis＠redfigure.org 05 May '03

05 May '03

It is an imagined book; both one that I can imagine creating and one which I often imagine that I need. For example, I easily set up the 2nd order differential equation and, with a bit more effort, recalled enough trig to figure out and tinker with the pendulum example project, but "weighing" the forces at different angles has kept me stumped for the last couple hours (playing with my children HAS pleasantly distracted me somwhat). In my experience, limited understanding of real-world math and its applicability across disciplines is what has prevented the effective use of computing (especially as a means of modelling, manipulating, and understanding real-world phenomenon) in schools and throughout the culture. BTW: The the pendulum project Alan sent out will open in the Squeak.org version of Squeak. I have to go to work now, so I cannot look into the incompatibility issue at this time; there are plenty of people on this list who could debug it faster and more reliably than I. Best, John On Wed, 16 Apr 2003, Juntunen, William wrote: > John, > "All the Real Math To Which School (Including College) Refused You Access." > > Is this a real book, or is this the imagined title of a book you are looking > for? > > Here's a way to think about it: when you look for a book and it's not there, > then it's time to pitch your idea to an acquisitions editor. > > Will > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: John Voiklis [SMTP:voiklis@redfigure.org] > > Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 11:04 AM > > To: squeakland(a)squeakland.org > > Subject: Re: Pendulum > > > > This message uses a character set that is not supported by the Internet > > Service. To view the original message content, open the attached > > message. If the text doesn't display correctly, save the attachment to > > disk, and then open it using a viewer that can display the original > > character set. << File: message.txt >> >

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changing language in tiles
by karl.ramberg＠chello.se 05 May '03

05 May '03

I can't find where to change the language in tiles. I get to change Vocabulary, but there is no language to select there... Karl

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squeakland May 2003