[IAEP] kids hacking sugar?

[Edward Cherlin]

Walter Bender has also created a Turtle Art/Python path using
programmable blocks. I did a presentation on it once showing some
simple functions for graphing, and adding math functions from Python
to Turtle Art. You start by assigning a single function call to a
block, then an expression, then a few lines of code, then multiple
blocks of code, and so on. There is also a path from Turtle Art to
FORTH using the stack blocks. There are a number of Turtle Art/Logo
packages such as UCBLogo. It would not be hard to add other language
connections.

On Tue, Aug 10, 2010 at 21:09,  <forster at ozonline.com.au> wrote:
> Soren
>
> I hope a non-Sugar anecdote is OK.
> I had a year 6 (aprox. 11year old) student in my class programming in a TurtleArt/Etoys/Scratch like drag and drop programming language with top end extensibility through a scripting language.
> He found a strategy game with quite complex coding in the scripting language written by a Dutch programmer. All the variable names were in Dutch.
> On his own initiative he passed the code through Google Translate Dutch->English to find out how to increase the range of his laser turrets.
>
> For me this demonstrates that surprisingly young kids will do high end hacking if four conditions are met: relevant, authentic, low entry, high ceiling.
>
> Relevant: something relevant to your interests, like a strategy game
> Authentic: real world useful, like a game your classmates will play
> Low entry: easy to start learning
> High ceiling: unrestricted growth and challenge (see Mihály Csíkszentmihályi on flow)
>
> TurtleArt on Sugar has Python function and Python block extensions as an attempt to provide an easy pathway from drag and drop programming to Python hacking. I don't know how successful this has been with kids.
>
> Getting straight into Python programming is 'high entry', any significant hacking I would expect to come from the TurtleArt/Scratch/Etoys pathway.
>
> Tony
>
>> I'm a curious outsider. Do kids actually hack sugar, change codes, do
>> language translation, etc?
>> Or is it just an option that they have with Sugar-FOSS?
>> If so, where can I find some data on kids involved with
>> sugar-hacking-activity?
>> i.e. videos, community-discussions, documents, or your own descriptive
>> observations
>>
>>
>> regards Soren
>> student in educational anthropology
>
>
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-- 
Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin
Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation.
The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination.
http://www.earthtreasury.org/