squeakland May 2010

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An horizontal grid artifact
by Hilaire Fernandes 31 May '10

31 May '10

It is updated in the LearningArtifacts repository. Hilaire -- http://blog.ofset.org/hilaire

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Recover password to Showcase ?
by karl ramberg 30 May '10

30 May '10

Hi I seem to have lost my login to my showcase account How do I recover it ? Karl

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On Good (and Bad) Habits of Mind
by Steve Thomas 30 May '10

30 May '10

I had a conversation with my brothers today. We are one of those "rare" families where we tend to be opinionated and disagree once in a while. Anyway, while we were at the table solving all the worlds problems we started discussing the financial crises, which lead to discussions of the stock market and investments. The topic came to investing in gold, which some at the table had very strong opinions about. They thought it was a great investment and that it was a wonderful hedge for the coming inflation/armegedon/end of the world as we know it. I was told I really should look at a particular website of a fellow who had predicted the market crash in 2008 and predicted the most recent drop. So I looked and there was a chart of the S&P 500 from 1965 to 2010. The chart clearly showed how we had just experienced a double bubble and were due for a 60% correction. My one brother saw this, jumped up and yelled "see that proves my point" Well I went back and looked at the chart later and saw it was a linear chart (as opposed to the logarithmic). In a linear chart the change in the Y axis is structured in such a way that if stock moves from $1 to $2 and if it moves from $100 to $101 the distance moved "up the Y scale" is the same. Yet if you invest $1,000 in a $1 stock and can sell it for $2 you have $2,000 (a 100% return). If invest $1,000 in a $100 stock and sell it for $101, you have $1,010 (a return of 1%). In a logarithmic chart equal movements reflect equal percentage change. (For an example check this chart <http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=%5EGSPC&t=my&l=on&z=l&q=l&c=>and switch between linear and logarithmic (log) scales to make the magical double bubble appear.) Now I am not sharing all this to give you investment advice (taking investment advice from me would be a REALLY bad idea). I am sharing because it got me thinking how could two otherwise very intelligent people (they both have advanced degrees, one multiple) make such a mistake? I think it is because people have a tendency to look for and give more weigh to evidence that supports pre-existing beliefs/mental models. At the G4L conference someone brought up how hard it is for kids to switch from previously held beliefs even in the face of contradicting evidence. Fortunately none of the folks on this list are like that, you are all open minded and actively seek out contradicting evidence and love to be around people who tell you, "you are wrong" But I could be wrong ;) Is there any curriculum around developing good habits of mind and/or any papers/article/books on what are the Habits of Mind that are most important to teach are kids? Stephen

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How Can I Change the "Grid spacing" on a playfield via a Script?
by Steve Thomas 29 May '10

29 May '10

I created a GeoBoard in Etoys, and want to change the size of a "Unit Square" so kids can see the same shape can be measured in different ways. Yes, I know I can change the playfield grid spacing from the menu, but want to be able to change via a script. If no tile is available the, something I can paste into the text version of a script would be fine. If possible a simple sample project (.pr file) would greatly facilitate my, and others, understanding and ability to use) [image: Screen shot 2010-05-29 at 9.51.12 AM.png]to [image: Screen shot 2010-05-29 at 9.50.01 AM.png] via scripting tile: Playfield: Set Grid Spacing: 80@80 Thanks, Stephen

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Artifacts in ObjectCatalog
by Hilaire Fernandes 28 May '10

28 May '10

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

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edu meeting notes May 27
by Rita Freudenberg 27 May '10

27 May '10

We started talking about Squeakfest preparations, where we have work to do: go for funding, spread the word about the call for presentations, invite people, prepare flyers, think about give-aways etc. Since this is more business-related we will schedule another meeting for that topic. Everyone who wants to help with the preparations is invited to join us! Next we talked about the idea of "artefacts" in Etoys, where we have slightly different feelings about. We agree that it is part of the job of the education team to look closely on new ideas to give advice and discuss it. With new Etoys versions, we can do "house cleaning", remove unused objects etc. There are things we discovered while writing the Etoys reference manual, we will make our notes there and before a new release look at them and react. To communicate this to the developers, we will use jira, and on next meeting spend some time figuring out how. Randy gave us more feedback on Rico's work and more improtant, asked for feedback for his next milestone. We will invite him for our next meeting and talk especially about Input/Output of Data From/To Files. Find more on the wiki: http://wiki.squeakland.org/display/sq/2010/05/27/education+meeting+May%2C+2… Rita Freudenberg rita(a)isg.cs.uni-magdeburg.de

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A new Die morph artifact
by Hilaire Fernandes 27 May '10

27 May '10

I have added a new Die Morph artifact in the LearningArtifacts repository (http://www.squeaksource.com/LearningArtifacts) Once load, instantiate one Die with the execution of 'DieMorph new openInWorld' from a Workspace. It is Etoys scriptable with specific tiles. So far the artifacts does not show up in the Object Catalog, I will fix that. Idea about category titles to use in the Object Catalog is welcome. Hilaire

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Re: Artifact for teaching fractions
by Steve Thomas 26 May '10

26 May '10

On Tue, May 25, 2010 at 9:46 AM, David Corking <dcorking(a)dcorking.com>wrote: > (1) Is the google group live and the official place to talk about > Etoys usage? Does it replace the squeakland list? > > IMO we should be using the squeakland list and will hopefully doing so soon. We had issues with the Squeakland Website and mailing lists which caused us to try Google Groups for a while. (2) If you want people to use the latest rods upload from showcase, I > think you have to click "Make public" Showcase says to me "You don't > have access to that project." > http://www.squeakland.org/showcase/project.jsp?id=9975 > > I did click make public, but unfortunately it can take up to 5 days to go public, hoping this will be changed to publish instantly like Scratch website does. > (3) I downloaded it from superswiki2.blueplane.jp which is fine. Many > thanks! > Great > (4) "Anyway hope this is useful, would greatly appreciate feedback on > how it can be improved and how it is used." > > I thought your original uploads to the showcase were great. I haven't > had access to an interactive whiteboard yet: what changes did you make > to suit whiteboards? > I put the Rods in flaps, my idea is the teacher will have a set of teaching artifacts that they can easily access when needed, including but not limited to: 1. Cuisinaire Rods 2. Area Blocks 3. Number Line 4. Equation Plotter ("box" + 3 = "triangle", fill in the possible values for "box" and "triangle" and plot, will have public demo later) 5. Multiplication Blocks (like those created by Hilaire for iStoa, which is where I stole the idea of teaching artifacts from ;) 6. Number Grid (again will post soon) > (5) The new number line is great. My son (who doesn't use rods) told > me the other day that there are lots of hidden numbers on the number > line between zero and 1. A great insight for someone just getting to > grips with the four operations of arithmetic. Therefore number lines > and rods seem an interesting combination, as it may give him tools to > explore this hidden world. I will have to think of some explorations > for him to try. > :) > (6) There are two settings where I imagine Etoys rods would come in > particularly useful. Firstly with a large screen or interactive > whiteboard, for group lectures and demonstrations. (Scripted > annotations and animations would be easier on a PC than with magnetic > rods or a table camera.) > > Also for kids to go to the board and explain their ideas to the rest of the class. Another potential use is to use the artifacts to create content: worksheets, lessons, assessments other learning experiences > Secondly, for schools with one laptop per child, that may not be able > to afford or make powerful physical manipulatives. (I saw a recent TV > documentary of a British primary teacher who uses disposable plastic > cups - like the ones in vending machines - as his main manipulative. > Even G7 countries have budget constraints.) Related to this is use by > children at home that have used rods in school. > Agreed. Etoys is great, but it does not replace the need for physical manipulatives. In fact I think kids need to get out of Etoys as part of their lessons and into using physical manipulatives including their own bodies. A lot of knowledge stored in there ;) > > (7) Do you remember Alan Kay's 2007 comment about rods? I think it is > enlightening. > http://lists.squeakland.org/pipermail/squeakland/2007-October/003872.html > > Many thanks for the link!!! I agree we do not need to re-invent the wheel (as tempting as that is) we would be better off at looking at what works. I have been looking at the ideas from the "new math" movement (Robert B. Davis mostly, but also others) to get ideas for "old math" we can render in Etoys. Best, David >

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Forward: [fonc] Points of View - a tribute to Alan Kay
by Yoshiki Ohshima 21 May '10

21 May '10

This is a special book. Please visit the page and "spread the words" (but possibly after pushing the button for yourself^^;) -- Yoshiki

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Using a Smart Board with Etoys
by Steve Thomas 21 May '10

21 May '10

Folks, During the meeting today we talked about using Smart Boards with Etoys and the "problem with no right click" (ie: how do you get to the Halo) Not sure which "Smart Board" you were talking (or what the multiple versions/manufacturers are) but I found this: http://www2.smarttech.com/kbdoc/190 Which indicates a SMART BoardTM Software Version 8.1.3 Introduces Touch Gestures and it discusses how to right click. Also I tried the SmartBoard at work and I can right-click. Stephen

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squeakland May 2010