[Newbies] I've just introduced some 9th graders to Squeak

[Brad Fuller]

Russ wrote:
> Hello. This is my first post to the beginners list. I've been a
> perpetual beginner since I first found out about Squeak over ten years
> ago ( can it really be that long ? at least somewhere at the beginning
> of ver. 1.x ) . Anyway, I'm not a programmer, I'm a musician and an
> explorer, and currently, a substitute teacher - teaching 9th graders
> (gifted ones at that) computer skills. Today I introduced them to Squeak
> ! It went really well. First  I talked about smalltalk, had them type in
> the " Transcript show: 'Hello World'. " program in a workspace, and I'm
> sure that bored them plenty. But I did not miss a beat. I next
> introduced them to the morphs - the bouncing atoms and the blobs , etc..
> and they were HOOKED ! 80 Kids now know about Squeak. Now what ? What
> should I do with Squeak and my 9th graders that will thrill them further
> ? Ideas ?

What do you want to teach them? That could provide us with more
direction to help.


Some ideas:


* Have you looked at the projects on squeakland.org?

* Although it's a bit young for 9th graders, have you looked at the book
"Powerful Ideas in the Classroom" by B.J. Allen-Conn and Kim Rose?

* Check out this video:
future_software_development_series.kay-alan.lecture.2003-04-24.102656947.wmv

at this location:
http://ftp.squeak.org/Media/AlanKay/

Go to near the end and see Alan's demo of what other kids have done in
squeak. It's a bit more advanced than the book, so it might fit in
better for their age.

-- 
brad fuller
www.bradfuller.com