Donald --

The Squeak from squeak.org is not at all set up for children. But it 
does have the etoys authoring environment for children. You can find 
out about it and get the downloads that we use at our schools from 
squeakland.org.

In any case, most people of any age who have never programmed before 
will find the etoys much easier, fun and productive than the raw 
expert environment. I urge you to use it.

Cheers,

Alan

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At 2:40 PM -0500 3/12/02, Donald MacQueen wrote:
>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, [|]


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