[IAEP] [FIELDBACK] Etoys

[K. K. Subramaniam]

On Friday 26 February 2010 12:12:19 pm Cherry Withers wrote:
> It's definitely a balancing act trying to get them to focus on finishing up
> something and getting them to explore. Once they realize that they
> can affect the object by scripts they just want to do everything they can
> possibly do in one sitting (dragging and dropping tiles in one script
> window ..then I'm in fire fighting mode). Too much resulted in chaos in my
> class. Not doing THAT again. I now give them some time to go nuts on
> exploration then pull them back in to finish a project. Now I'm
> introducing just a max of two concepts (or tiles) in one 40min. session.
When a new tile is introduced, kids tend to use it over and over many times 
before they get to a state where they can use it in a project. This is par for 
the course.

Alan's car demo script starts with commands. When the script says "forward 5" 
what exactly is 5 in that blank space? Introducing watchers before commands 
helps ease the up ramp. Learning about watchers for shapes 
(length/width/heading), color and border and then position (x,y,..) allows 
kids to grasp spatial and angular dimensions gradually.

BTW, I wouldn't worry about kids "finishing" a project in the first few 
sessions. Curiosity and experimentation will dominate the sessions. Only when 
they reach a zone of comfort with the system will they become receptive to 
tips on "saving" their projects.

My experience is limited to non-English students in rural India using the 
English GUI. I don't know how much it would apply to students in other 
regions.

YMMV .. Subbu