[IAEP] [Grassroots-l] OLPC in Kindergarten

[Edward Cherlin]

On Wed, Jun 17, 2009 at 2:42 AM, Tony Forster<forster at ozonline.com.au> wrote:
>>It's working. You can see the palettes at
>
>>http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/images/c/cd/Iconic_Turtle_Art.odt
>
>>I'll extract some Journal entries using these tiles tomorrow and post
>>them, along with a bundle of .svg files of tiles and palettes with
>>installation instructions.

I had to take care of an opportunity that arose this morning. I can
get back to Turtle Art this evening.

> Thanks, that's great news! Then we can get some user feedback
>
>>Nobody knows the age limit on teaching graphical programming.
> Experience with Scratch and GameMaker is that it works at the whole of a
> class down to
> grade 3 though I have had smart individuals down to grade 1. But I note that
> the
> cognitive load is higher for these programming tools, they allow multiple
> objects and are
> event driven. The beauty of Turtle Art is its simplicity, only 1 object, the
> turtle and
> no need to get your head around events and their associated actions.
>
> So I agree, lets get something out there, get it road tested and refined and
> see how low
> it will go.
>
>> ←→↑↓↗↘↶↷↺↻√∡⊥∧∨∼ and others.
> Was thinking, turtle motion arrows should have a picture of the turtle too -
> to underline
> that they are from the turtle's frame, not the child's.

Done.

> Younger children will have problems with mouse control, particularly with
> the XO, maybe
> the blocks should be bigger?
>
> In slow mode, the blocks could light up as they execute.
>
> Clean could be a pencil eraser or blackboard duster.
>
> Which are better for flow control, smileys or coloured dots?
>
> 0-= I prefer 012, if they can't recognise numerals they will have trouble
> entering them
> anyway.

I am now using Chinese Counting Rod Numerals, which correspond to bead
positions on an abacus. Horizontal lines represent 1s, vertical line
represents 5.

𝍠𝍡𝍢𝍣𝍤𝍥𝍦𝍧𝍨

U+1D360-1D369, requires Unicode Symbols font, unicode.otf, or some
other font with these characters from the Unicode SMP.

> Where the graphic is not reasonably intuitive, maybe better to retain the
> text? At least
> an adult could read them. Walter is going to do tool tips, that would make
> my point
> irrelevant, graphics on blocks with text tooltips.

+1

>>They don't need localization. This is important for children whose
>>language of instruction is not their native language. English in
>>Ghana, for example, or French until recently in Rwanda.
>
> Yes, reminds me of Vanuatu, their local language is spoken the village,
> Bislama is the
> national language but the language of instruction may be English or French.
> I doubt we
> would ever see localisation down to the local language level, maybe 1000
> speakers.
>
> Final thought. We are not eliminating language, just substituting one symbol
> set for
> another, hopefully more recognisable ones. Language in the wider sense is
> symbols with
> meanings which can be used for communication and as tools to think with.
> Mathematics is a
> language too. Though some blocks could have photorealistic symbols, we are
> mostly using
> abstract symbols like the arrow. (the arrow is based on the bow and arrow
> but we have all
> but forgotten the roots of its symbolism).

Not I. I did a lot of archery in the Boy Scouts.

> Which gives me another thought. Could we have animated images on the blocks.

I know of animated gifs, but not animated svgs and pngs. But on
looking, I see they exist.

http://www.w3.org/TR/SVG/animate.html
http://animatedpng.com/

Are there Python libraries to manage them? Yes for png, no for svg.

http://foone.org/apng/

Well, we'll have to ask Walter if he is willing to do this. On the
other hand, it would greatly slow down turtle graphics to have these
sprites on all of the tiles. Once we get an advanced XO with a
graphics processor, it shouldn't be a problem.

> Then we
> could photorealistically represent actions like move and flow control.
>
> All just topics for discussion, very happy with what you have done, looking
> forward to
> the installable bundle.
>
> Tony
>
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>



-- 
Silent Thunder (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) is my name
And Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, The Truth my destination.
http://earthtreasury.org/worknet (Edward Mokurai Cherlin)