[IAEP] [FIELDBACK] Etoys

[Edward Cherlin]

On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 12:00, Gerald Ardito <gerald.ardito at gmail.com> wrote:
> Edward,
>
> I know that my 5th graders who are using XOs and Sugar would love to
> participate with you in this project.

Thank you. Can I get on your Jabber server to chat with the children?

How much have they learned? Do they know all of the mouse functions,
including triple-click? Do they know what all of the lights on the XO
mean? Do they understand saving and resuming activity sessions?
Collaboration? Sharing journal entries? Installing activities? How
much programming do they know? How much of Unix do they understand?
Are any of them using an XO in a different language or with a
different keyboard layout?

You can look at http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/The_Undiscoverable for
other questions.

At some point I want to create an XO examination for the children to
grade based on these points.

1. Could they discover the item?

2. Have they been taught the item?

3. Does my explanation work for them to learn the item?

and then ask them for comments. What did they have trouble with? Do
they have a better, or at least different way of explaining something?

> Gerald
>
> On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 11:58 AM, Edward Cherlin <echerlin at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>  I would also like to hear any such ideas. I am writing about
>> exploring the XO and its software, to be followed by a teacher's guide
>> that will show how to introduce everything that children cannot
>> discover for themselves in dependency order, and a bite at a time,
>> with appropriate reinforcement. I need all of the real-world
>> information I can get about both problems and solutions.
>>
>> Then, of course, I will need people to try out what I write and tell
>> me what's wrong with it. ^_^ I would particularly like to hear from
>> children who have issues, and be able to discuss those issues with
>> them.
>>
>> On Fri, Feb 26, 2010 at 01:42, Cherry Withers <cwithers at ekindling.org>
>> wrote:
>> > Gerald,
>> >
>> > 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.
>> >
>> > Kathleen Harness has really good lesson plans for teaching one concept
>> > at a
>> > time: www.etoysillionois.org
>> >
>> > I would like to hear more best practices/ideas, etc. for teaching Etoys
>> > in
>> > the classroom.
>> >
>> > Cheers,
>> > Cherry
>> >
>> > On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 4:13 PM, Gerald Ardito <gerald.ardito at gmail.com>
>> > wrote:
>> >>
>> >> I agree. Watching the car script is fun for a while. But when they make
>> >> their own first script, it is exciting each and every time.
>> >>
>> >> I also find that the students (I work with 10 year olds) get
>> >> overwhelmed
>> >> by the number of choices they have.
>> >>
>> >> Anyone else have that experience?
>> >>
>> >> Thanks.
>> >> Gerald
>> >>
>> >> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 7:11 PM, Cherry Withers
>> >> <cwithers at ekindling.org>
>> >> wrote:
>> >>>
>> >>> The very first time a child sees their object move with a simple
>> >>> forward
>> >>> script is always a magical moment for me and the kids. Never fails.
>> >>> Exploration and excitement explodes after that. I'm new to teaching
>> >>> Etoys as
>> >>> well. Definitely caught the bug. :-)
>> >>>
>> >>> On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 2:43 PM, Simon Schampijer
>> >>> <simon at schampijer.de>
>> >>> wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Hi,
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I am teaching on a regular basis in the Planetarium pilot in Berlin,
>> >>>> Germany [1]. I have been using Etoys now for several weeks and here
>> >>>> is
>> >>>> some first feedback.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> First: The kids do like it a lot! I want to encourage everyone to
>> >>>> include it in his curriculum.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> For example you can teach easily the concepts of the coordinate
>> >>>> system
>> >>>> with Etoys. You create an object and print out the X and Y values
>> >>>> when
>> >>>> moving it on the screen. Or you can use a joystick to alter the
>> >>>> position
>> >>>> of this object and use this method to deepen the coordinate system
>> >>>> concept.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Of course we did as well the famous car example. It was slightly
>> >>>> changed
>> >>>> in my class: A bug has to crawl a lane using one or two sensors to
>> >>>> stay
>> >>>> on the lane. A lot of interesting concepts to learn here, too
>> >>>> (positive
>> >>>> and negative numbers for example).
>> >>>>
>> >>>> And to bring this all together into a portfolio you can use the book
>> >>>> tool (found in the treasure chest) to create a story including all
>> >>>> your
>> >>>> objects and games, pictures etc you created.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I wrote down a few items I was missing when using the book tool and
>> >>>> while doing so, I figured they were all there, just hidden by
>> >>>> default.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> - resize all of the book not just one page
>> >>>>     - maybe that could be the default option?
>> >>>> - duplicate a page
>> >>>> - different background color
>> >>>> - different sound when turning the page
>> >>>>
>> >>>> When you hit the little button at the far left you will get more
>> >>>> options. And when you use the menu in the middle of the book toolbar
>> >>>> you
>> >>>> get all of these options and a lot of more. Just in case someone runs
>> >>>> as
>> >>>> well into this :)
>> >>>>
>> >>>> A few things that I came across, too:
>> >>>> - German: When you drop the 'joystick up down' and 'joystick left
>> >>>> right'
>> >>>> option onto the world it will change to English. Not when you use it
>> >>>> in
>> >>>> a script though.
>> >>>> - some buttons are hard to use: for example when you want to alter
>> >>>> the
>> >>>> behavior of the X value of an object (increase..). Those are hard to
>> >>>> navigate. Or dropping options into the test script does not work as
>> >>>> smooth.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> That's all for now - keep up the good work, team Etoys!.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Thanks,
>> >>>>     Simon
>> >>>>
>> >>>> PS: Of course I am happy to turn items into bugs later. Just thought
>> >>>> I
>> >>>> give here a little summary first.
>> >>>>
>> >>>>
>> >>>> [1] http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Deployments/Planetarium
>> >>>>
>> >>>> _______________________________________________
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>> >>>
>> >>>
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>> >>
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
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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/
>> _______________________________________________
>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> IAEP at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>



-- 
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/