[Sugar-news] Sugar Digest 2015-07-15

[Walter Bender]

== Sugar Digest ==

1. I gave a talk at Aldea Digital [1] -- a two-week long public event
in Mexico DF that is sponsored by the Carlos Slim Foundation -- at the
same time that the New Horizons space probe was passing the orbit of
Pluto. The path to Pluto was anything but straight. NASA utilized
multiple gravitational slingshots to accelerate the spacecraft, and
direct and redirect its path. E.g., New Horizons approached Jupiter
not to visit Jupiter, but to use the planet’s speed around the sun to
increase the spacecraft's velocity (relative to the sun). I used the
occasion to make an analogy to Sugar: we have built a FOSS platform
that we intend as intellectual slingshots. Our goal is not to simply
immerse the student in learning a particular language or toolkit or
achieve a particular curriculum goal, but to use the immersion as a
means to stimulate them to pursue their own goals and ambitions.

New Horizons, regardless of the success of its science mission, has
already succeeded in tapping into a very human trait, the desire to
explore the unknown and reach to new heights, hopefully enthusing the
next generation of children to push even further. It is my hope that
Sugar, in its small way, taps into the same human trait, also
enthusing the next generation of children to push their limits.

2. Another Turtle workshop, also at Aldea Digital. I did an impromptu
Turtle workshop here last year, using Sugar on a Stick to boot a bunch
of Windows computers into Sugar. This year I used the web version of
Turtle Blocks. The kids did fun projects and I am hoping because it is
web based there may be some follow up this time. Carla Gomez Monroy
(and her son Ian) joined me at the workshop, which made it extra fun.

=== In the community ===

3. Call for papers for the special issue of RED (Journal of Distance
Education):"Skills for coding and pre-coding":
* Deadline for submitting manuscripts: 31 July 2015
* Estimated Publishing Date: 15 September 2015.
Publishing standards and guidelines for authors can be found at [2].

Llamada a contribuciones para el número especial de RED (Revista de
Educación a Distancia): "Competencias para la codificación y la
precodificación":
* Fecha límite para enviar manuscritos: 31deJuliode 2015
* Fecha estimada para la publicación: 15 de Septiembre de 2015.
Normas de publicación y pautas para los autores [2].

=== Tech Talk ===

4. Please help Martin and the Developer Team test Sugar 106 [3]. Your
feedback is important to us.

=== Sugar Labs ===

5. Please visit our planet [4].

-walter

-- 
Walter Bender
Sugar Labs
http://www.sugarlabs.org

[1] http://www.aldeadigitalmx.com
[2] http://www.um.es/ead/red/normasRED.htm#_Toc324610817
[3] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/0.106/Testing
[4] http://planet.sugarlabs.org