I am teaching Squeak to nine kids at my local school.  The students
are three 8th graders and 6 7th graders.  We are using the book
“Squeak – A Quick Trip to Objectland”.  We have classes once a
week for an hour in the school computer lab, and have been meeting
for just over a month.

It is difficult to tell how things are going. I ask if they understand
what’s going on and get blank looks.  I ask if anyone is completely
lost and get the same look.  They all seem to like the Squeak
environment, especially the music and games. My twelve year old
daughter is in the class and she says she know what’s going on, but
I don’t think she see any use in what she has learned.

I think what is needed is some kind of project that would not only be
‘cool’ but also teach them something.  We did John Maloney’s TestMorph
tutorial and they thought the rainbow morph was ‘cool’ as it bounced up
and down, but even something this simple was a bit over their heads at
this point.

I looked at doing Dan Shafer’s counter tutorial, but I think scripting
would just confuse them right now.  I’d like to find some kind of project
involving sound and animation that they could do without too much trouble.
I thought about doing at tic-tac-toe game, but the graphics involved in
displaying the board might be too hard.

I’d appreciate any project ideas.  Thanks.




-- 
Donald                           

Donald M. MacQueen
Registered Smalltalk Bigot, [|]