squeakland April 2008

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21 participants
18 discussions

A Right To Learn Freely (from waveplace)
by Timothy Falconer 10 Apr '08

10 Apr '08

Hi folks, Here's an article from our latest Waveplace newsletter, which might be of interest to OLPC and Etoys enthusiasts: --- A Right To Learn Freely A child has the right to their own wonder, to their enthusiasm, to their innate curiosity as they explore the world around them. A child has the right to ask questions and be heard, to hear answers from adults without impatience or contempt. A child has the right to create beauty as their heart compels them, to be encouraged in their community without fear of apathy or ridicule. A child has the right to learn freely. Too often we adults get caught up in ourselves, in the demands of each day as we try to survive. Nowhere is this more true than in the poorest areas of the world, where survival demands its due in every moment of every day. Too many of our children have the eyes of adults, weary well beyond their years, their wonder stolen much too soon. But there's a new hope this year, arriving in the form of little laptop computers from OLPC. With these new laptops, Waveplace Foundation is teaching Caribbean kids to become digital storytellers, to use these little machines to help nurture their talents for the benefit of all. As adults, we see computers as a tool for our work. We see only their pragmatic side, and so think of computers as a necessary job skill. At Waveplace, we see something else as we watch children with their new laptops. We see pride in their eyes at being given such a special gift. We see excitement as they learn to do wondrous new things. We see determination to solve the next puzzle, a look we imagine on their faces in the future as they tackle the world's troubles. To a child, having their own laptop is like having a special confidant, a secret sharer, one with infinite patience and continual encouragement. In the Waveplace course, children learn to program these computers, which is a creative and effective way to teach problem solving. The confidence they get when they're able to do this is incredible. It's changing how they feel about all learning. They become more enthusiastic and more engaged. More than this, these laptops connect them to the world. Just as books have carried wisdom through the ages, these computers connect children to teachers and students from afar. Even as the harshness of their home begins to crush their spirit, these laptops are a window to what's possible, to the certain knowledge that they have a right to learn, and grow, and dream. Not bad for two-hundred bucks. -- The rest of the newsletter can be found here, which includes news from our St John pilot, which concluded two weeks ago: http://waveplace.com/news/newsletter/web.jsp?id=5 You can also subscribe to get our newsletter mailed monthly: http://waveplace.com/subscribe/ Take care, Timothy -- Timothy Falconer Waveplace Foundation http://waveplace.com 610-797-3100

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Physics Objects and Squeak 3.10
by Joe Apuzzo 10 Apr '08

10 Apr '08

I'm new to the list and have slowly been learning Squeak over the last few weeks. I want to develop lessons for kids starting in 3rd grade up to 5th grade ( thus using eToys as the main interface ) I recently came across Phun ( http://phun.cs.umu.se/wiki ) which is a really great Physics simulator. But it's a toy and lacks the rich environment that Squeak has for introducing, planning and accomplishing a "class project". I know that there is ODECo for Squeak ( http://languagegame.org:8888/ggame/15 ) but 1) It only runs at on 3.7 2) Only has a few objects to work with 3) Does not have settings for friction, density and bounce 4) Does not have the concept of liquid and gas Therefor is there any work on adding objects to eToys that have Physics attributes like those in Phun? If not, is anyone interested? Yours humbly; Gnu Joe Joseph Apuzzo www.mhvlug.org

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Re: [Squeakland] Squeak's effect on Open School students
by Origbj＠aol.com 10 Apr '08

10 Apr '08

Many of my students come back to visit me in the classroom. Some make it especially on the day that they know we will be working with Squeak. They come to help the current students in my class as they work through the projects they are working on. Some of the children continue to use Squeak and have shared projects they have created with their current teachers. The kids feel empowered, especially in the area of math. BJ ************** Planning your summer road trip? Check out AOL Travel Guides. (http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016)

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Squeak's effect on Open School students
by K. K. Subramaniam 09 Apr '08

09 Apr '08

Hi, It is now more than five years since Squeak was tried out at the Open School. Those students would now be in higher secondary. I wonder what they would have to say about the influence of Squeak on their education? Did they continue with Squeak? Curious, Subbu

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Re: [Etoys] So what does everyone use in the classroom?
by Korakurider 08 Apr '08

08 Apr '08

On 4/8/08, Edward Cherlin <echerlin(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Squeak by Example doesn't count as a book? > > http://www.squeakbyexample.org/ > 2008-03-10: The corrected, second edition is now available! > You can also order a print-on-demand, softcover copy of the book. Many people call Etoys as Squeak, but these are different thing: + Squeak is a implementation of Smalltalk language and its environment. + Etoys is application written in Squeak Smalltalk and integrated to Squeak environment. Historically we (especially etoys community) have not been differentiating squeak and Etoys very well, that have been confusing. But now we use "Etoys" specifically, by this we would make it clear Etoys isn't tied to specific implementation technology. The SQE is a book about Smalltalk language/environment, not about Etoys. So it seems the book isn't for Joe. /Korakurider

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Re: [Squeakland] Re: [Etoys] Etoys by Example
by Dave Bauer 08 Apr '08

08 Apr '08

http://squeakland.org/sqmedia/books/squeakerbooks.html You can print the PDFS of the projects in Powerful Ideas in the Classroom. There are some really good examples in there. Maybe it would make sense to make that book availalbe from Lulu.com if people wanted to have a book. Dave On Mon, Apr 7, 2008 at 6:08 PM, Jecel Assumpcao Jr <jecel(a)merlintec.com> wrote: > Joe Apuzzo wrote: > > So what is becoming obvious to me is the lack of Etoys information in > > one place, like "Squeak by Example" book is. > > See "Children Learning by Doing: Squeak Etoys on the OLPC XO" at: > > http://www.vpri.org/html/writings.htm > > What you want is half done. > > -- Jecel > > _______________________________________________ > Squeakland mailing list > Squeakland(a)squeakland.org > http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland > -- Dave Bauer dave(a)solutiongrove.com http://www.solutiongrove.com

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So what does everyone use in the classroom?
by Joe Apuzzo 07 Apr '08

07 Apr '08

With eToys dead ( not updated in over 2 years ) And no books in print. What have teachers replaced eToys with? ( seeing that Squeak is a dead language ) Joe Apuzzo Gnu_Joe www.mhvlug.org

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duplicate (not sibling) - garbage collection?
by Mark Nelson 01 Apr '08

01 Apr '08

Hi Scott, Recently you gave me a useful tip for creating duplicates (not siblings) from a textual script using "costume duplicate player". This has been working great except for one problem. As students are developing their scripts, their project files keep growing rapidly in size. We start off with a 'template' project that is about 300 kB. Each round of program development and debugging usually involves creating and destroying multiple 'duplicates' using the above method. Before long, the project files are many MB in size, even after all players have been cleared from the playfield and the trashcan has been emptied. Loading and saving project files gets slower and slower. I've discovered this happens even if the duplicates are created using the halo icon, rather than the textual script. Each duplicate that is ever created seems to leave a 'ghost' that take up about 130 kB of storage. In the process of debugging their scripts, students typically create and destroy dozens of 'duplicates', leading to multi-MB file sizes. This growth in file size seems to happen only with 'duplicates', not with 'siblings'. Is there some way to do garbage collection to get rid of these 'ghosts' so we can keep the file sizes manageable? Thanks, --Mark

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squeakland April 2008