squeakland March 2004

squeakland@lists.squeakfoundation.org

35 participants
38 discussions

The forum
by RATZEL, MARSHA 30 Mar '04

30 Mar '04

I love this idea and I like the way that ideas are so much more easily referenced. My bank of ideas are all stored in 3-ring binders right now. It is so inefficient to flip through them when I get ready to do something and I know I've read a helpful tip on it. I think the BB will be much easier to refer back to and I hope that it will be all that I'm hoping it will be. I'm off with another group of Squeak newbies. marsha

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Grand opening: squeakland forum
by Michael Rueger 30 Mar '04

30 Mar '04

Hello Squeaklanders, please all take a look at the new squeakland forum site at http://forums.squeakland.org/ The plan is to move the squeakland discussions over to this communication form in the future. We will also add foreign language forums as needed. This is new ground for us and we will try our best to improve the experience as we go along. Feedback, comments, encouragements welcome :-) Cheers Michael

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[Squeakland] Teachers College/Columbia University Workshop and public presentation this Thursday and Friday in NYC
by tim cooper 30 Mar '04

30 Mar '04

As was listed before, there will be a public presentation on Squeak that will accompany the Squeak workshop this Thursday (4/1) from 7pm-9pm. It will take place in Grace Dodge 277 at Teachers College in NYC. The course info is listed below and registration is still open. The public presentation will be a sharing of ideas and experiences of people using Squeak in school now such as Kim, B.J., and others. All are welcome to the public presentation on Thursday from 7pm-9pm, please send an email to Tim Cooper at tsc2102(a)columbia.edu if you plan to attend so we can accommodate everyone. Please put "Squeak workshop" in the subject of your email. For directions to TC go to http://www.tc.columbia.edu/visitorscenter/Maps.htm Check out the TC or Columbia site for more info. The security guard at the front desk at 525 W 120th street (btw Bdwy and Amsterdam) will provide you with direction info if needed. Squeak Workshop at Teachers College/Columbia University, New York Squeak in Education - Rose, Conn and Kaplan, April 1 & 2, Thursday night 5-9 and Friday 9-6. MSTU5814 - CRN 51718 Kim Rose of Viewpoints Research Institute and Squeakland, B.J. Conn of the Open Charter School in the Los Angeles Unified School district and Professor Danielle Kaplan of Teachers College will offer a Squeak workshop for teachers,learning specialists, and educational technology developers. Activities will include an introduction to Squeak, including hands- on use of the tool. In addition, participants will design instructional and research activities. Elementary, middle and high school teachers interested in integrating technology into curricula are especially encouraged to attend. The Course can be taken for credit or non-credit. Register at (Class is offered in the Mathematics, Science and Technology Dept.) http://www.tc.columbia.edu/ceoi/courses_cluster.html

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RE: [Squeakland] Re: Grand opening: squeakland forum
by Mitchell, David [CC] 29 Mar '04

29 Mar '04

I prefer a mailing list to a web forum. But, some people like them. Maybe we can have both? I would like it if the list were mirrored to the forum and vice-versa. But, I'm happy to use whatever resources others contribute. :-) --David Mitchell -----Original Message----- From: squeakland-bounces(a)squeakland.org on behalf of Samuel Tardieu Sent: Mon 3/29/2004 12:34 PM To: squeakland(a)squeakland.org Cc: Subject: [Squeakland] Re: Grand opening: squeakland forum >>>>> "Michael" == Michael Rueger >>>>> <michael(a)squeakland.org> writes: Michael> Feedback, comments, encouragements welcome :-) Yuk. I don't like WWW forums. I can't read them or contribute while offline. I have to have a graphical www browser to read them of participate. I hate them in fact :) Sam -- Samuel Tardieu -- sam(a)rfc1149.net -- http://www.rfc1149.net/sam _______________________________________________ Squeakland mailing list Squeakland(a)squeakland.org http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland

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Assessment
by Doug Wolfgram 27 Mar '04

27 Mar '04

I hope this isn't off-topic, but it occurs to me that e-toys and Squeak are the perfect tool for what I would like to see change at our school... Recently, we invited Jill Tarter to come and speak at my daughter's school. She was very well received and her promotion of math and science was close to my heart, as I believe that all children should have a good foundation in the sciences. Then I started thinking about Alan's demonstration of Squeak and the gravity exercises, etc. I realized that from my experience (please correct me if I'm wrong) most lower school math and science assessments assess only what a child has already learned, whereas with Squeak and e-toys, we can assess what they are CAPABLE of learning. Isn't this more valuable information? Do those of you who are educators think this way? Am I just behind the curve here and all of you regular squeakers are saying "duh, we've been doing that?" :) This has special meaning to me because my daughter, like me when I was in lower school, tends to make careless errors on math tests from going too fast. So this keeps her out of some of the advanced math pull-outs. Yet the kids in those pull-outs come to her for help because she knows the math and if she doesn't, can figure it out very quickly or knows who to ask and isn't afraid because she is very confident about her ability to understand what she will hear as a response. This seems to me to be a very big failing in this particular school anyway. D ___ ________________________ "Interactive Media that WORKS." ___________________________ Doug Wolfgram CEO GRAFX Group, Inc. 949.433.3641 http://www.personalpresentations.com

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SqueakFest '04 - Registration now open!
by Kim Rose 27 Mar '04

27 Mar '04

Greetings Squeaklanders! Registration for SqueakFest '04 is now open! Although the gathering is free of charge (thanks to Columbia College) we still need to know who is coming. Information and registration is now available via the Squeakland homepage: http://www.squeakland.org SqueakFest will be held in Chicago on August 5-7. It will include tracks on Etoys, "Croquet" -- a 3D (and 2D) immersive, peer-to-peer, collaboration learning, social, and play enviornment, and much more. We hope to see you in Chicago! cheers, Kim

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RE: [Squeakland] Assessment
by Thomas Oeding 27 Mar '04

27 Mar '04

Forward for "Mankovsky, Sheine" <Sheine.Mankovsky(a)tdsb.on.ca>: As a parent first, and a member of this "community", I'd like to lovingly suggest that you reread this portion on your note to the list Doug. This has special meaning to me because my daughter, like me when I was in lower school, tends to make careless errors on math tests from going too fast. So this keeps her out of some of the advanced math pull-outs. Yet the kids in those pull-outs come to her for help because she knows the math and if she doesn't, can figure it out very quickly or knows who to ask and isn't afraid because she is very confident about her ability to understand what she will hear as a response. I'm not an educator but I was a kid, and have refused steadfastly to completely enter the adult world. That would make me "immature" but empathetic to your childhood experience and to your child's present situation. The beauty of Squeak is its commitment to kids--unconditionally. When I visited Cathy and B.J.'s classrooms I didn't pay much attention to their delivery of a Squeak lesson--no offence intended. I wasn't there to consider the teaching dimension. I sat with a couple of kids in each case, asked them to show me around, and watched and listened to them learning with Squeak. It was only because of what I experienced during that morning, that I decided to pursue the use of Squeak at the local school board where I am a trustee. And all the more, because I knew they could take it home with them, although not in all cases, and do whatever they chose to with it there. Best to you all. Sheine > -----Original Message----- > From: squeakland-bounces(a)squeakland.org > [SMTP:squeakland-bounces@squeakland.org] On Behalf Of Doug Wolfgram > Sent: Friday, March 26, 2004 11:13 AM > To: squeakland(a)squeakland.org > Subject: [Squeakland] Assessment > > I hope this isn't off-topic, but it occurs to me that e-toys and Squeak > are > the perfect tool for what I would like to see change at our school... > > Recently, we invited Jill Tarter to come and speak at my daughter's > school. She was very well received and her promotion of math and science > was close to my heart, as I believe that all children should have a good > foundation in the sciences. > > Then I started thinking about Alan's demonstration of Squeak and the > gravity exercises, etc. I realized that from my experience (please correct > > me if I'm wrong) most lower school math and science assessments assess > only > what a child has already learned, whereas with Squeak and e-toys, we can > assess what they are CAPABLE of learning. > > Isn't this more valuable information? Do those of you who are educators > think this way? Am I just behind the curve here and all of you regular > squeakers are saying "duh, we've been doing that?" :) > > This has special meaning to me because my daughter, like me when I was in > lower school, tends to make careless errors on math tests from going too > fast. So this keeps her out of some of the advanced math pull-outs. Yet > the > kids in those pull-outs come to her for help because she knows the math > and > if she doesn't, can figure it out very quickly or knows who to ask and > isn't afraid because she is very confident about her ability to understand > > what she will hear as a response. This seems to me to be a very big > failing > in this particular school anyway. > > D > > > > > ___ > ________________________ > > "Interactive Media that WORKS." > ___________________________ > > Doug Wolfgram > CEO > GRAFX Group, Inc. > 949.433.3641 > http://www.personalpresentations.com > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Squeakland mailing list > Squeakland(a)squeakland.org > http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland

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Assessment, a good book, and assorted rantings
by Aaron Lanterman 27 Mar '04

27 Mar '04

I was reading the recent thread on the use of EToys as an "assessment" tool, and wanted to throw in a few thoughts. My wife and I recently read "Teach Your Own," by John Holt. The examples in the book are rather dated (for instance, there's a lot of references to the new hot field of "solar polar," and a other parts that peg it as a product of the 70's), but there's a second edition that's been updated up Holt's followers. I would strongly recommend it to anyone interested in either education in general or their children in particular. Even if you don't think homeschooling (I would prefer the term "hybrid schooling," which I made up, since homeschooling gives the impression that one stays at home all the time) is a good idea, the book still contains much applicable wisdom. "Teach Your Own" ushered in the modern homeschooling movement (that is, homeschooling for non-religious reasons). After reading it I began to shudder every time I hear the word "assessment." I am a university professor, and although Holt's book is aimed at the traditional K-12 age ranges, it completely changed the way I think about my job. > This has special meaning to me because my daughter, like me when I was in > lower school, tends to make careless errors on math tests from going too > fast. So this keeps her out of some of the advanced math pull-outs. Yet the > kids in those pull-outs come to her for help because she knows the math and > if she doesn't, can figure it out very quickly or knows who to ask and > isn't afraid because she is very confident about her ability to understand > what she will hear as a response. This seems to me to be a very big failing > in this particular school anyway. I remember when I was in 5th grade (let's see, that would be around 1980) we had these awful timed tests where you had to finish 100 inane math problems - addition, subtraction, multiplication, whatever - in a very strict time limit. If you didn't finish or you made any error at all, you couldn't go on to the next one. You had to repeat a particular level over and over until you could do it perfectly in the time limit. Those tests were some of the the most frustrating and assinine things I've ever encountered. I've taken real analysis, point-set topology, measure theory, and differential geometry. My PhD thesis involved a lot of stochastic process theory. I use math on a daily basis in my research. But as I child, I just couldn't do those damn timed tests without nearly breaking out into tears. I would get nervous and shaky just thinking about them. I want to go back in time and find whoever designed those tests, crumple them up, and... well, this is a family-oriented list, so I shouldn't go into details. Alan wrote in one of his essays that most of what we call "learning disabilities" are simply a manifestation of adults' inability to come up with anything resembling a reasonable learning environment for many children. AMEN BROTHER! Speak the truth! Expose the lies! > Another truly important idea about children which should be part of > any learning environment, is that different children learn > differently and for different reasons. Though this seems like an > unremarkable observation, most learning environments do little to > nothing to deal with these most important facts. This reminds me of my wife's experience in the trenches teaching 7th and 8th grade French. She taught for about three years, and had some difficulties but overall enjoyed it, since the kids in her class were people who were interested in learning a foreign language in general and French in particular. Everything went to hell when some well-meaning adult got the bright idea to make everyone take a foreign language. This sounds like a good idea, but Holt's book made me realize that any attempt at forced education is pointless and frustrating for all involved. My wife had to spend almost all of her time dealing with the kids who (a) weren't interested in learning a foreign language at that time and (b) particularly RESENTED being put in a foreign language class. She got out of teaching shortly after that, and now makes far more pay and gets far more respect as a technical writer and as a translator than she ever did teaching. No ADULT could sit for 6 hours a day being forced to learn things against their will according to someone else's schedule, so why are we surprised when children resist? - Aaron, who promises he'll get off his soapbox now :) ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dr. Aaron Lanterman, Asst. Prof. Voice: 404-385-2548 School of Electrical and Comp. Eng. Fax: 404-894-8363 Georgia Institute of Technology E-mail: lanterma(a)ece.gatech.edu Mail Code 0250 Web: users.ece.gatech.edu/~lanterma Atlanta, GA 30332 Office: GCATT 334B

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Re: [Squeakland] Real beginner's questions!
by Alan Kay 26 Mar '04

26 Mar '04

Hi Shelagh -- At 4:48 PM +1100 3/26/04, Shelagh Manton wrote: >Thankyou, I found it. It looks like a colon on my keyboard. > >Shelagh > >PS. I know I should really look at the e-toys world. But I'm a >compulsive reader and wanted to get a little background on the >language itself before I got in the deep cold water. The etoys world is pretty separate from the larger Squeak world and the water is kept warm there. You can get started without worrying about the colder waters behind the dam ... Cheers, Alan > (You should see the time it takes me to get into a real pool!) SOM > >On Thu, 25 Mar 2004 21:30:48 -0800, Alan Kay <Alan.Kay(a)squeakland.org> wrote: > >>Hi Shelagh -- >> >>At 1:53 PM +1100 3/26/04, Shelagh Manton wrote: >>>In the various books on Squeak and Smalltalk that I've read, they >>>use a vertical stroke to delineate variables. where is this on my >>>keyboard? >> >>It's usually on the right hand side above the return key. It should >>show on the keyboard of any PC or Mac. >> >>>Is it a character that changes in Squeak when you type it like the >>>underscore? >> >>No. It's a regular character. >> >>I can tell by your question that you are not looking at the Squeak >>Etoys, which is what the Squeakland site and this mailing list is >>about. If you haven't done much or any programming before, you >>might find a really great start by doing the etoys stuff. Get the >>book "Powerful ideas in the classroom" or look at the tutorials on >>the site and try the examples. >> >>If you have had some experience programming and want to learn the >>full blown Squeak, then the site is Squeak.org, and there are many >>books available about how to program both in Smalltalk in general, >>and in Squeak in particular. >> >>Cheers, >> >>Alan >> >>> >>>Shelagh (who has decided that even if my son does not want to use >>>squeak I do ) >>> >>>-- >>>Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ >>>_______________________________________________ >>>Squeakland mailing list >>>Squeakland(a)squeakland.org >>>http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland >> >> > > > >-- >Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/ --

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Real beginner's questions!
by Shelagh Manton 26 Mar '04

26 Mar '04

In the various books on Squeak and Smalltalk that I've read, they use a vertical stroke to delineate variables. where is this on my keyboard? Is it a character that changes in Squeak when you type it like the underscore? Shelagh (who has decided that even if my son does not want to use squeak I do ) -- Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

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squeakland March 2004