squeakland June 2010

squeakland@lists.squeakfoundation.org

14 participants
43 discussions

Re: Tick Rate not accurate
by Bert Freudenberg 11 Jun '10

11 Jun '10

Hi Steve, I'm taking the discussion from the tracker to the mailing list ... >> URL: http://tracker.squeakland.org/browse/SQ-708 >> Reporter: Stephen Thomas >> >> Saw problems with Tick Rate while running random number tests. Created a simple project (see attached) >> to check tick rate by having a script to increment a counter and another to start it and then stop it after N seconds. Below are some of the results >> Tick Rate - Counter Value After 10 seconds >> 1 - 10 >> 2 - 20 >> 5 - 50 >> 8 - 72 >> 10 - 98 >> 25 - 230 >> 50 - 384-405 >> 100 - 500 >> Also ran at tick rate of 100/sec for 100 seconds and got counter values of 4975 to 5000 > > Etoys is not a real-time system. The ticking rate is the desired number of script executions per second. The actual number can be lower depending on how much else is going on. Faster machines will run closer to the desired number of ticks, slower machines less so. To expand on this: The default rate is set to only 8 ticks per second to allow more objects to be animated at that rate. This is not "smooth", but then, the major purpose of Etoys is not pretty animation, but learning how things work (*). Etoys is limited to a rate of 50 frames per second by default (we developers call that "world cycles"). That means it checks at most 50 times per seconds if scripts should be run. If it finds any that are due, it executes those scripts, and then redraws the screen. This may take well more than 20 ms, so there will be less than 50 world cycles per second. That's the reason you don't get more than 500 ticks in 10 seconds no matter the tick rate. Just for fun, look at the current frame rate by dragging out a "FrameRate" counter from the Object Catalog's "Just For Fun" category. This lets you see how various operations affect the frame rate. E.g., make a big object rotate, and then duplicate it a few times. Enabling the "higherPerformance" preference removes the 50 fps cap. This basically has no effect on e.g. the OLPC XO-1 (except for draining the battery even more), because it can barely keep up even 50 fps. On faster machines you'll see the frame rate go up to hundreds of fps. If the system load is otherwise low, you'll get pretty accurate ticking, but again because sampling is involved, it's not guaranteed to be accurate. Having the 50 fps cap in place makes the timings actually more consistent over a wider range of machines. So, long story short, you cannot use the tickings for accurate timing. If you let us know what you actually need this for, I'm sure we can find a way to help you :) - Bert - (*) I tend to forget that myself. E.g. my cars-on-an-intersection project works really nicely on my home machine, but rather poorly on slower machines - the cars don't even make it across the intersection in one light cycle: http://squeakland.org/showcase/project.jsp?id=9655 That's because I increased the tick rate of the cars to get smoother animation. Not a good idea in this case. The light ticks independently of the cars, so on slower machines you get many less car ticks per light tick than on a fast machine. The light advances when the car has barely reached the middle of the intersection. This could be worked around by having only a single ticking script in the world that would trigger all other scripts at appropriate intervals. That would guarantee much more reproducible behavior independent of the computer speed.

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Re: [squeakland] Artifacts in ObjectCatalog
by Hilaire Fernandes 10 Jun '10

10 Jun '10

Thanks to share this article. It was a very interesting reading. FYI, in the French speaking Switzerland, they have a math curriculum, problem oriented, with the appropriate books resources. Hilaire Kim Rose a écrit : > Beautifully stated, Kathleen -- hear, hear! > > For additional reading, I'd also like to recommend "A Mathematician's > Lament" by Paul Lockhart. > > A (shorter-than-the-book PDF version is available here: > www.maa.org/devlin/LockhartsLament.pdf, but also highly recommend > reading the (slightly) longer book.

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Help Desk at Squeakland
by Steve Thomas 10 Jun '10

10 Jun '10

Here are my thoughts about the Help Desk to help start the discussion: I have a projector I can bring, so ideally the Help Desk would be setup with a long table and a few chairs where we can project what we are doing on a wall so people passing by can see the things you can do with Etoys and we can demonstrate to more than 1 or two people at a time. or Pre-Meeting: Send out an email to the attendees asking us to bring us their problems, challenges, questions such as: - "How can I do <...> in Etoys?" - "I have a project and I want to do <...> but can't figure out how to do it?" - "One of the things that really frustrates me about Etoys is <...>, Is there an easier way to do this? (We should get very few of these types of questions ;) - "I teach <...> and Etoys seems really interesting, but how can I use it in my <...> class?" (we may not be able to answer these but we can see what we can do to connect Teachers to other Teachers and to PUFX'x (People with Fundamental Understanding of X) to help them and grow the community. - Have a special email list for "how can I do this in Etoys" for now we can use squeakland(a)squeakland.org and perhaps ask folks to Begin the Subject with "HCIIET" (okay I need to work on the acronym ;) During Squeakfest - When no one at the table: - Have a slide show (Etoys version of course) of the things you can do in Etoys to attract attention - Reply Etoys we created and video examples/tutorials (pre-created and created on the spot) of problems we have solved. This is easy with a screen capture utility and I can leave my Mac at the table, so folks can capture things using QuickTime (it has a new screen capture with audio in 10.6) - Tips and Tricks Video's of how to do things in Etoys During Squeakfest -When someone at the table: - Record their questions, and if they allow name and email so we can follow up for those folks whose questions we can't answer on the spot. And even if we can answer it on the spot, but create a "video" with the answer we can send them a link to that video. - Have a sign-up sheet with name, occupation, email, question (large area) and asking permission if we can use their name if we post their question and solution on our web site After Squeakfest - Follow up with all the people thanking them personally for taking the time to come and ask questions. Also perhaps a survey or simply asking them if we were able to answer their question and if they need additional information - Post the Tips and Tricks and Video Tutorials on the Website. Stephen On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 7:21 AM, Rita Freudenberg < rita(a)isg.cs.uni-magdeburg.de> wrote: > Hi all, > > this is a reminder for our meeting today. Our agenda: > > - Ricardo's progress, questions and feedback > - What are Etoys artefacts? > - booksprint to finish the Etoys reference manual > - submissions for Squeakfest, please send in your presentations using the > submissions page: > > http://squeakland.org/squeakfest/submit/ > > We will *only* talk about education issues at Squeakfest, like ideas for > workshops, Steve's idea for "help desk" and what else you come up with. > Everything else will be discussed on a separate Squeakfest preparation call, > which we might have tomorrow. > > Ping me or send an email if you want to join us. > > Greetings, > Rita > > _______________________________________________ > squeakland mailing list > squeakland(a)squeakland.org > http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland >

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education team meeting today 12:30 EDT
by Rita Freudenberg 10 Jun '10

10 Jun '10

Hi all, this is a reminder for our meeting today. Our agenda: - Ricardo's progress, questions and feedback - What are Etoys artefacts? - booksprint to finish the Etoys reference manual - submissions for Squeakfest, please send in your presentations using the submissions page: http://squeakland.org/squeakfest/submit/ We will *only* talk about education issues at Squeakfest, like ideas for workshops, Steve's idea for "help desk" and what else you come up with. Everything else will be discussed on a separate Squeakfest preparation call, which we might have tomorrow. Ping me or send an email if you want to join us. Greetings, Rita

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business team
by Rita Freudenberg 07 Jun '10

07 Jun '10

Hi all, as you may know from the meetings notes we post on this list, there are weekly developer and education meetings. It is time to re-animate another kind of meetings: business meetings. Here we will talk about how to get funding for Squeakland, how we can spread the word about Etoys, etc. So please let me know if you are interested in joining these meetings! We will try to find a date which works for everyone who is interested. I plan to use skype, like at the education meetings. Btw, the meeting dates for all meetings can be found on our calendar: http://www.squeakland.org/news/calendar/ Rita Freudenberg rita(a)isg.cs.uni-magdeburg.de

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Horizontal Grid and Dot Table Artifact Comments
by Steve Thomas 03 Jun '10

03 Jun '10

Hilaire, Thank you for sharing these and rendering them within Etoys. Some thoughts. 1. Instead of the die category attribute "dotColor" what about "dotPlayer" 1. Then kids could make Table with whatever graphic interests them 2. When I resize a "Dot in Table" the box around the dots, changes in size, but the dots do not move and if you make the box smaller than the area filled by the dots, some of the dots appear outside the box. 1. If you change the scale of "Dot in Table" (Ex: to 2.0) it does not behave as described above, but changes size 3. Change the name to "Dot Table" no need for "in" (actually would want to think about this some more as to what would be an appropriate name in English 4. Not sure how you designed this, but what about using a Holder as the "container" for the dots (or as I would prefer players. This provides a lot more flexibility and IMO better metaphors/ideas to play with. As has been mentioned by Subbu and others, the Holder is great for exploring factoring et al. 5. I would also add a 2nd player variable so that this one object could be used to show fractions/ratios 1. I would attach a project showing what I am thinking about. Unfortunately I can't post this to Squeakland at this time (or anything else, but Tim emailed me and is working on it so hopefully that issue will be resolved soon) and the mailing list will not allow me to attach the file. If you made the above changes you could really combine the two artifacts into one. Many thanks to Randy for posting a project (Die Roll)<http://www.squeakland.org/showcase/project.jsp?id=10016> on Squeakland so that those of us who are not familiar with the Smalltalk tools and how to load the latest versions can play with these things. Stephen

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education meeting tomorrow
by Rita Freudenberg 02 Jun '10

02 Jun '10

We will have our next education team meeting tomorrow, Thursday June 3rd 12:30 pm EDT. We will talk about Squeakfest, the ongoing discussion about artifacts on squeakland and Ricardos work. Ricardo will join us around 1 pm. Let me know if you want to join us! We use Skype. Rita Rita Freudenberg rita(a)isg.cs.uni-magdeburg.de

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Re: [etoys-dev] Etoys Inbox: Etoys-kfr.16.mcz
by karl ramberg 02 Jun '10

02 Jun '10

The World extent and bounds have a special role and can be hard to. I'm not sure how many other special cases we need like this, it's hard to estimate. What do the edu team think of this kind of extention to the Vocabulary ? Karl On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 4:10 AM, Korakurider <korakurider(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Hi, Karl. > I can't say if there is not problem :-), I really tried it and it > seems to work, the name of category exported to POT. > > But we might want to publicly discuss changes to vocabulary with wider > audience (especially folks of edu team) in squeakland list or > tracker. > > /Korakurider > > On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 7:51 AM, karl ramberg <karlramberg(a)gmail.com> > wrote: > > I sent this to the Inbox for testing and reviewing . I'm not sure if this > is > > the right way to add a category. > > Karl > > > > > > > > On Wed, Jun 2, 2010 at 12:47 AM, <commits(a)source.squeak.org> wrote: > >> > >> A new version of Etoys was added to project Etoys Inbox: > >> http://source.squeak.org/etoysinbox/Etoys-kfr.16.mcz > >> > >> ==================== Summary ==================== > >> > >> Name: Etoys-kfr.16 > >> Author: kfr > >> Time: 2 June 2010, 12:47:35 am > >> UUID: 52d4e13b-602e-2d44-aaeb-d0cac306756f > >> Ancestors: Etoys-kfr.14 > >> Backported From: Etoys-kfr.15 > >> > >> Makes a read only category 'world geometry' that is only visible to the > >> world. > >> > >> =============== Diff against Etoys-kfr.14 =============== > >> > >> Item was changed: > >> ----- Method: Player>>categoriesForWorld (in category 'slots-kernel') > >> ----- > >> categoriesForWorld > >> "Answer the list of categories given that the receiver is the > >> Player representing a World" > >> > >> | aList | > >> + aList _ #(color #'fill & border' scripting #'pen trails' #'world > >> geometry' playfield collections sound) asOrderedCollection. > >> - aList _ #(color #'fill & border' scripting #'pen trails' > playfield > >> collections sound) asOrderedCollection. > >> aList add: #input. > >> Preferences eToyFriendly ifFalse: > >> [aList addAll: #(preferences #'as object' > >> display) ]. > >> > >> aList addAll: {ScriptingSystem nameForInstanceVariablesCategory. > >> ScriptingSystem nameForScriptsCategory}. > >> > >> ^ aList! > >> > >> Item was added: > >> + ----- Method: Morph class>>additionsToViewerCategoryWorldGeometry (in > >> category '*eToys-scripting') ----- > >> + additionsToViewerCategoryWorldGeometry > >> + "answer additions to the geometry viewer category" > >> + > >> + ^ #( #'world geometry' > >> + ( > >> + (slot length 'The length' Number readOnly > Player > >> getLength Player unused ) > >> + (slot width 'The width' Number readOnly Player > >> getWidth Player unused ) > >> + (slot left 'The left edge' Number readOnly > >> Player getLeft Player unused ) > >> + (slot right 'The right edge' Number readOnly > >> Player getRight Player unused ) > >> + (slot top 'The top edge' Number readOnly > Player > >> getTop Player unused ) > >> + (slot bottom 'The bottom edge' Number readOnly > >> Player getBottom Player unused ) > >> + > >> + > >> + ) > >> + ) > >> + > >> + > >> + ! > >> > >> Item was changed: > >> ----- Method: Morph>>filterViewerCategoryDictionary: (in category > >> '*Etoys-scripting') ----- > >> filterViewerCategoryDictionary: dict > >> "dict has keys of categories and values of priority. > >> You can remove categories here." > >> + > >> - > >> self wantsConnectionVocabulary > >> ifFalse: [ dict removeKey: #'connections to me' ifAbsent: > >> []. > >> dict removeKey: #connection ifAbsent: []]. > >> self wantsConnectorVocabulary > >> ifFalse: [ dict removeKey: #connector ifAbsent: [] ]. > >> self wantsEmbeddingsVocabulary > >> ifFalse: [dict removeKey: #embeddings ifAbsent: []]. > >> + self isWorldMorph ifFalse: > >> + [dict removeKey: #'world geometry' ifAbsent: []]. > >> - > >> Preferences eToyFriendly ifTrue: > >> [#(layout preferences display #'as object') do: > >> [:sym | dict removeKey: sym ifAbsent: []]. > >> > >> + self isWorldMorph ifFalse:[ > >> + dict removeKey: #preferences ifAbsent: []]. > >> - self isWorldMorph ifFalse: > >> - [dict removeKey: #preferences ifAbsent: []]. > >> dict removeKey: #display ifAbsent: []]! > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> etoys-dev mailing list > >> etoys-dev(a)squeakland.org > >> http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/etoys-dev > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > etoys-dev mailing list > > etoys-dev(a)squeakland.org > > http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/etoys-dev > > > > >

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Re: [squeakland] Artifacts in ObjectCatalog
by kharness＠illinois.edu 02 Jun '10

02 Jun '10

Steve, One my goals in teaching Etoys is that students make projects that will have lasting value. I am thinking of valuable things like a painting they keep, an origami box they made, a recording of them singing, or a story or poem they wrote. It seems to me that Etoys projects can be more like those kinds things that are a product of their mind that they value beyond the day. That said: do children you know save any worksheets and go back to them for enjoyment? The kinds of projects my students make are meant to be more like an art and less like an assignment that is finished and forgotten. One year I asked students to make Etoys books to teach counting. They all already knew how to count; I was not teaching counting. I was teaching them to use something they knew to help others, to organize and apply their knowledge about Etoys and about counting, to plan and produce a book. The books are somewhat eccentric; there are books that count from 1-10, 1-7, 95-100, that count by 5's, twos, with decimals etc. The topics, illustrations, and text were student decisions. We knew one book might appeal to one person and maybe not others but they followed their own interest when they chose the topic. Students read each others books in class, and once the books were on the web site showed them to other kids in their family. Lots of little brothers and sisters spent some good times with their older siblings. It seems to me we want children to see opportunities in Etoys rather than more of the same kinds of drills and worksheets they find in the rest of their day. If worksheets are a must, could you teach children to produce their own. I suspect, if you provide Etoys worksheets your good intentions will become what you do not want:> * another method to help kids learn sterile facts > and mindless disconnected procedures > * something to be used in drill and kill > worksheets I am glad you see the artifacts you are proposing as projects rather than as additional objects for Supplies or the Object Catalog. A library of projects that can be chosen among is vastly different than trying to fit everything to fill every need into the software. You mention first principles, I'd be interested in know your views about what the first principles are in Etoys. > Etoys (as near as I can figure) is built upon doing > everything from first principles, which is part of > its power and beauty. > That said I think we need to solve the problem that > it can take quite a while and not everyone is > capable of building things from first principles. > Some higher levels of domain specific abstractions > are useful and I believe necessary. Sorry, but I don't understand what is meant by: "Some higher levels of domain specific abstractions are useful". Tell me more please. Regards, Kathleen ---- Original message ---- >Date: Tue, 1 Jun 2010 00:10:14 -0400 >From: Steve Thomas <sthomas1(a)gosargon.com> >Subject: Re: [squeakland] Artifacts in ObjectCatalog >To: kharness(a)illinois.edu >Cc: Hilaire Fernandes <hilaire.fernandes(a)edu.ge.ch>, "squeakland.org mailing list" <squeakland(a)squeakland.org> > > Folks, > I had no idea the term Artifact was so loaded. > So let me expand a bit on what I am thinking about, > which is somewhat different from what I fear is > being perceived: > First what I do not mean: > * another method to help kids learn sterile facts > and mindless disconnected procedures > * something to be used in drill and kill > worksheets > * although I fear there is nothing that can > be done to prevent that use in some cases, > that should not stop their use for better > purposes > * while most worksheets I have seen are "mind > numbing" at the risk of starting another > "conversation" I have seen and used some > very good ones (ex: Miquon) > * Something to be used for pure assessment > purposes > * Pre-constructed answers so kids don't have to > think > * gimmicks to "make math interesting" or "cutesy" > What I am trying to create: > * A way to "present concepts first" without the > formulas or notation > * something that provides concrete metaphors to > help kids access powerful ideas > * something kids can play with to explore ideas > * in the case of Cuisenaire Rods and > GeoBoards mathematical ones, yet I can > envision their uses in other areas > * something that can be used by a student to help > explore and explain their ideas > * something that can be used by a teacher to pose > questions and problems for the kids > * and yes, something that can help teachers assess > children's understanding in an efficient and > effective way and in certain cases provide > feedback because we can't "put Seymour in the > box" or a teacher with subject matter expertise > in all areas (especially hard for elementary > teachers and teachers in third world countries > where in some, but not all cases, they are > learning along with the students.) > "The Tools to think with/teach with/learn with" are > not end goals and in fact are in my mind merely > first steps in providing a set of tools for > learning. > These Tools also need appropriate lesson plans or > what I prefer to think of as scripts for > improvisation. > The "Tools to teach with" are things I can use to > pose problems, assess understanding and challenge > students existing mental models. > Some examples are the virtual cuisinaire rods and > geo-boards. > Hopefully what I am thinking about will become > clearer when I produce some more examples and > perhaps video of how I see them being used. > As far as whether they should be included in the > Etoys Object Catalog. At this point I think not. > > Etoys (as near as I can figure) is built upon doing > everything from first principles, which is part of > its power and beauty. > That said I think we need to solve the problem that > it can take quite a while and not everyone is > capable of building things from first principles. > Some higher levels of domain specific abstractions > are useful and I believe necessary. > Also, Hilaire makes a good point that to make things > scalable these would need to be done in smalltalk. > I have other comments on Kathleen and Lockhardt's > excellent points, but I will spare you (for now ;) > I need more time to think about them. > Stephen > On Sat, May 29, 2010 at 11:45 AM, > <kharness(a)illinois.edu> wrote: > > Hi Hilaire, > I looked at the png of the die, dot in table, and > fraction box and wonder, are they objects like the > polygon with a dedicated set of tiles or a halo > menu of options? The label Artifacts is confusing > me; in schools here the label artifacts can mean > educational materials used for assessment or, do > you mean ready-to-use objects? > > The Object Catalog and Supplies have similar > things. Will DrGeo be a new tab in the Object > Catalog? Do you propose another new category > called Artifacts in the Object Catalog and then do > you plan to add many objects to the next release > of Etoys? Will they all be of special interest to > math teachers and/or science teachers and at what > grade levels? Do you know the USEIT adaptations of > Etoys in use at the University of North Carolina > Wilmington? The UNCW adaptations are for middle > and high school science teachers. Are these > similar to your ideas? Would they fit your > category of Artifacts? > > I am growing more uncertain about what Etoys will > become if many specialized objects are added. To > be useful, some of these objects require more > knowledge in math and science. For example, the > particles are amazing and whenever I show them to > science teachers they are a wonderful example of > using Etoys to explore ideas in physics. They are > however, sophisticated and difficult for students > to use without instruction. They are not intuitive > unless you are already know physics. My elementary > students click on them in the Object Catalog and > then are at a loss, they have neither the science > knowledge nor the programming skills to use them. > > Are the teachers you know using Etoys for math > instruction? The microcosm of the school where I > work has not shown any interest in using Etoys to > teach math even though the teachers are always > impressed with the math students use to make > projects. The teachers are more concerned with > following a rigid curriculum that pre-tests, > introduces concepts, post-tests, bench-marks, and > quarterly assesses. And all of that > instruction/assessment is, of course, focused > toward the standardized tests given in March. > Their curriculum is too large, time is too short, > and each concept and skill is given too little > time to mature. But, that is a problem for the > math establishment and one of the reasons I like > Etoys is that it is so much more open ended and so > much less prescriptive and so much outside of the > whole assessment environment that is consuming > education in the US today. > > The god of assessment has always had clay feet and > Diane Ravitch's book, The Death and Life of the > Great American School System: How Testing and > Choice Are Undermining Education (New York: Basic > Books, 2010) gives me hope that we will see less > emphasis on > multiple-choice-single-right-answer-learning. I > would urge that we (Etoys) not spend very much > time developing subject area electronic worksheets > and mechanisms that count right/wrong answers and > keystroke attempts to be part of the software. > Book publishers routinely provide such materials > that are specific, sequenced, and aligned and, > from what I can see, teachers are hard pressed to > use everything that is already available. If new > artifacts are being considered as potential > objects for the next release of Etoys, we should > start talking about our vision for Etoys and what > the core of it will be. > > Etoys thrives on mathematics and, on imagination, > but to put too much emphasis on teaching a core > curriculum of math or science will limit the other > uses and imagination. My students use math in > their projects and are indeed learning concepts at > a deep level but they are not learning the math > curriculum for their grade. For example, my > 2nd-5th grade students routinely use test > statements, create variables, and add random > number generator tiles to projects. They use xy > coordinates fluently because they want to control > locations of objects and to position objects with > reset scripts. Most of the Races and Mazes in > EtoysIllinois were made by elementary students and > show these kinds of applications of learning. > > Unfortunately, standardized assessments do not > assess for this kind of learning and certainly not > in elementary grades in dynamic environments. My > sense is that subject area teachers everywhere are > bound by local, state, and national requirements. > My hope is that Etoys provides collections of > projects that show examples for deep learning and > that as schools react to the growing need for more > and more people who can program, who can use the > language of the computer to express ideas, who are > creative and, who will thrive in the future or, in > careers that use programming skills, that Etoys > would be in a position to be adopted as the tool > for teaching programming in K-12 schools. > > Etoys is certainly powerful enough to grow up with > children from elementary to high school . . . > without a doubt. It was one of the reasons I first > considered Etoys, that is, it can not be outgrown > or worn out in a year or two. > > I have written materials that show how easy it is > to integrate Etoys into core curriculum but in > every case I find that the core curriculum is > already full, too full, and very well planned by > curriculum specialists and that there is no room > for Etoys in their view of their subject. I said > this at a MSTE Board of Advisors meeting a year > ago and Chip Bruce said: if there was no room at > the table we should make our own table. It seems > to me, Etoys could make its own table and in doing > so raise the rather low expectations for what is > currently passing as computer literacy. > Keyboarding and using the internet are at a much > lower level than the most basic Etoys project. > > The K-12 cs/programming discipline is very new and > that is good for us. It is an opportunity for us > to define what should be. If we can provide a > cogent set of projects that develop good habits of > mind, creative, and logical thinking we might find > Etoys adopted by schools who are looking ahead for > their students' futures. I would much prefer that > we build our own table rather than try to squeeze > Etoys as one more topic into other disciplines > already full curricula. > > My hope is that schools will see the need for > specialists to teach the subject of programming, > just as music and art specialists focus on > providing an excellent general education for all. > Wouldn't it be grand if children routinely went to > the computer lab to learn Etoys, just as they go > to the music room to learn music. You may know, I > was a music teacher and taught music to everyone > in the school every year. It was not a course with > preliminary requirements of talent, IQ, skill, > interest or, potential for becoming a professional > musician. Music is part of what it means to be > educated. If we can align with that kind of > belief, that knowing how to program, how to use > the computer creatively to express ideas rather > than being passive users or used by it, then we > will have achieved something of value. > > I know this note is too long but I hope we can > start talking about some of these ideas. > Regards, > Kathleen > > ---- Original message ---- > >Date: Fri, 28 May 2010 09:22:40 +0200 > >From: Hilaire Fernandes > <hilaire.fernandes(a)edu.ge.ch> > >Subject: [squeakland] Artifacts in ObjectCatalog > >To: "squeakland.org mailing list" > <squeakland(a)squeakland.org> > > > > 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 > >________________ > >ArtifactsObjectCatalog.png (16k bytes) > >________________ > >_______________________________________________ > >squeakland mailing list > >squeakland(a)squeakland.org > >http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland > _______________________________________________ > squeakland mailing list > squeakland(a)squeakland.org > http://lists.squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland

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Etoys Tip #273 (or wow, I never knew Etoys could do that!)
by Steve Thomas 02 Jun '10

02 Jun '10

*How to change the size of an object without flattening it or making it "fat":* (Techie Speak: How to change the size while maintaing the same aspect ratio) If you change the size of an object using the "change size" handle in the halo (that yellow box in the lower left corner). You can keep the aspect ratio the same by holding down the shift key while you drag. Want to test this idea? 1. Drag the objects width and length watchers onto your world. 2. Add a variable that divides the width by length 3. Change the size using the "change size" handle in the halo, with and without holding down the shift key 4. Does the variable you created in step 2 change? ;)

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squeakland June 2010