Gi Carlos, where in the folder list (etoys, Resources, etc) can I find the project ¨"How many Pizzas"?
Regards, Carlos ----- Original Message ----- From: Carlos Rabassa To: squeakland.org mailing list ; Maho 2010 Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 7:40 PM Subject: [squeakland] Using examples from the showcase to learn Etoys
Pato Acevedo, Daniel Ajoy,
Thank you very much for the comments you left on the page of this project.
How Many Pizzas (2010-Sep-07 18:35 EDT) by Carlos Rabassa based on ideas by Daniel Ajoy and Paolo Benini <carlos> Resolving 2-variable equation
by <pato_acevedo> (2010-Sep-13 23:32 EDT) Great job Carlos.
It might be good to show the process as it was the end result. The analysis thus decided to search results posibles.Un flowchart maybe I could help a newbie. What if the change in value pizzas?.
A hug
by <danielajoy> (2010-Sep-15 14:58 EDT) Yes. Always, my first thought when opening an Etoys project is. Where is the code?
And sadly, the answer is "everywhere". That is why I don't like using Etoys.
Note:
The comments are written by visitors to the Squeakland website.
They select the language and write in that language.
Readers see the comments in their own language, after an automatic translation when required.
This explains why the language of the first comment is a bit strange.
If you switch the language to Spanish, it becomes obvious that first comment was written in Spanish.
I just see these comments for the first time.
As usual, I will do my best to respond but,
the comments that would be very much interesting to hear are not mine, they are those from teachers and other educators.
Pato, you say:
"Maybe a flow diagram would help a newbie."
¿Do you want to laugh?
Before sharing the project, I had the same thought.
At that point, I thought of doing a flow diagram using one of the XO applications.
I remembered Labyrinth, which was used in a video I watched from the Canal Ceibal series, a class by Teacher Natalia Pizzolanti:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhBomV7xGE0
They were doing a history project, with events and individuals connected by lines, it reminded me of a flow diagram.
But I never used Labyrinth and I don´t have a XO.
WIth those two excuses I felt I had justified my lack of perseverance.
I quit.
I then thought of Omni Graffle, a comercial program I used in the past for flow diagrams.
Again, with no recent experience I was getting nowhere and quit.
I promise to think a bit more, using Etoys, on how to answer these comments.
In the meantime, a question to all but specially addressed to teachers and educators.
¿What would you think about making a flow chart to answer the suggestions of this two good friends?
While learning my first steps in designing websites, I frequently asked our son for help and opinions.
Frequently, he would say my work was typical of the work of those of my generation and also typical engineer´s work.
He explained the new generation does not think following a linear flow.
They look at the screen as a whole, enjoy what they see from top to bottom and across the screen.
They let their minds be attracted to follow the path that calls their attention the most.
He used to say young people enjoy liberty.
They resent being forced to follow the path an adult designer decided was the best for all site visitors.
Young people enjoy discovery and adventure.
All these sounds to me close to the explanations about what Etoys is and what it is good for.
Maybe flow diagrams are not for Etoys projects and viceversa.
Etoys is about experimenting.
Experimenting is a fast way of discarding bad ideas and focusing on the good ones.
Creating a flow chart without doing a lot of experimentation during the process, might close the door to some good solutions.
I found the comments by Pato and Daniel, to be interesting and worth being considered.
¿Could this however, be due to the fact I am not a student trained in the Etoys world since my childhood?
I met Etoys only recently, when my mind was already loaded with other ideas I got in the past.
I had learned the first step in writing a computer program is to conceive the basic idea and to express it using a flow diagram.
I learned how important it is to keep all my materials in order and together.
It would be much easier for me if I could open the Etoys Supplies Box and find a little box labeled "the code for the whole project is here".
The Etoys Manual says its target audience is 8 to 13-year old students.
Seems to me Etoys is targeted to virgin minds we want to teach how to express themselves.
The goal is not to create beautiful projects, it is to use these projects as the means to express our ideas.
If I succeed making a good flow diagram, my idea is already expressed, I don´t need Etoys.
While I think what to offer, using Etoys, instead of the flow diagram suggested by the comments, may I offer this page:
I learn Etoys E004 - Exploring Projects in the Showcase https://docs.google.com/View?id=dg7q79cx_550hpvtt7hg
We wrote it long ago.
Shows the procedure we followed many times in our quest to learn Etoys.
It is one of the paths suggested by the creators of Etoys:
Select from the showcase projects that call your attention, open and study them.
In this page we describe our study of the project
Frog Puzzle (2009-oct-28 22:49 EDT) por Digimath <digimath> Make the frogs jump until the pattern is reversed. Click on Help for the rules Interesting, as Daniel says, in this example, "the code is all over". We took advantage precisely of that, to study only the portion of the code referring to a feature we wanted to use in other projects. We were obsessed with the problem of projects without instructions or explanations of any kind. We liked the book that may be opened, read and closed, to learn how to play the frogs game.
Carlos Rabassa Volunteer Plan Ceibal Support Network Montevideo, Uruguay
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