[IAEP] How can we help kids get into the habits of looking for all possible causes and counter examples to problems?

[Carlos Rabassa]

English translation follows Spanish text

Excelente mensaje Paolo: siempre recuerdo que en mi infancia en Uruguay me explicaban que la luna crece cuando tiene forma de "C" y decrece cuando tiene forma de "D".

Deseo agregar un punto a tu mensaje:

Hay un porcentaje considerable de uruguayos que tenemos familiares y amigos viviendo en el extranjero. 

No sé si ya se está haciendo,  pero pienso que en muchas aulas sería posible realizar experimentos como el que describes de que un niño tome una foto de la luna y la envíe por correo electrónico a otro niño en el hemisferio norte. 

El niño lejos de Uruguay no tiene por qué ser necesariamente un familiar o un amigo.  Podrían ser familiares de los muchos visitantes que recibimos en Uruguay.  Podrían ser grupos que ya han demostrado interés en corresponder con niños de otros países.  

Tal vez algunos recuerdan a Randy Caton;  muchos uruguayos lo conocieron en ocasión de Squeakfest 2011 en Mayo último.  Randy trabaja como voluntario con los niños de una reservación indígena en EEUU que desean comunicarse con niños en lugares lejanos.  

En Alemania está Radio JoJo que pone en contacto a los niños de Berlín con los del resto del mundo.

Hay escuelas para niños uruguayos en varios lugares del mundo.

English translation:

Excellent message Paolo;  I always remember,  from my childhood in Uruguay,  being told the moon is growing in size when it has the shape of a "C", as in "crecer" or "to grow" and reducing its size when it looks like a "D" as in "decrecer".

I want to add one point to your message:

There is a considerable percentage of uruguayans who have family members or friends leaving overseas.

I don´t know if they are already doing it but I believe in many schoolrooms it would be possible to perform experiments like the one you describe of one kid taking a picture of the moon and emailing it to another kid in the northern hemisphere.

The child far from Uruguay doesn´t necessarily have to be a relative or a friend.  They could be the relatives of the many visitors we receive in Uruguay.  They could be groups who have already shown their interest in corresponding with children overseas.

Maybe some of you remember Randy Caton:  many uruguayans met him at Squeakfest 2011 last May.   Randy works as a volunteer with the children in an indian reservation in the U.S.A. who want to communicate with far away children.

Radio JoJo in Germany puts Berlin children in touch with children all over the world.

There are schools for uruguayan children in several locations around the world.


Carlos Rabassa
Voluntario
Red de Apoyo al Plan Ceibal
Montevideo, Uruguay





On Oct 3, 2011, at 2:58 AM, nanonano at mediagala.com wrote:

> >On 02/10/2011 09:07 a.m., Maria Droujkova wrote:
> >...I have never had to do anything with REASONS for seasons or phases of the moon, outside of curriculum design. Have you?
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One reason to think about  phases of the moon on our normal life is the fact that people on the north hemisphere see the moon "upsidedown".  Or the opposite: people on the southern hemisphere     see the moon "upsidedown".
> 
> We can use that knowledge on our normal life: On the calendar we can see the icons of phases of the mooon, but those icons were designed by northern people, with  the crescent moon like a "D" and the Waning Moon like a "C", but in the southern hemisphere is the opposite, crescent moon is a "C" and waning moon is a "D". (the people that designs calendar on the south repeat like parrots the things that northern people designs, so they draw the moon in the opposite way....)
> 
> In northern hemisphere the mooon is liar, because she is a "C" when she is "de-crescent", and she is a "D" when she is Crescent, but here on the south the moon tell us the truth.
> 
> -----------------------------
> 
> For example: a child in Uruguay could take a picture of the moon and send to a child in Canada,  the same day, so they can compare that fact. and  maybe another child on the equator  can send another picture that shows the moon on the middle, like an "U".
> 
> That is an exercise that children have to think, not only repeating something like parrots , things that they hear from the teacher.
> 
> ---------------------------
> 
> Another fact about seasons and our normal life:  if you are on the same longitude, you don't have the sunset at the same time, ¿why is that????
> 
> ANd more interesting: on some dates of the year the sunset is on the same hour, but not all the year... ¿why?
> There are only two days on the year that this happens.
> 
> For example, the longitude of boston is almost  the same as Chile, and now the sunset on both places are almost at the same time, children can control that sending them an e-mail, o chatting.
> 
> That is because it began  the spring on the south and fall on the north.
> If you make the same experiment on Christmas, the sunset on Boston is 2 hours before that the sunset in Chile ¿why is that?
> If a child on BOston chat whit a child on Chile, the child on chile have the sunset, but the child on boston had the sunset 2 hours ago.
> 
> the answer is the same as the answer about the season: the tilt of the earth.
> 
> That kind of experiment was theoretical some years ago, but now it's a normal thing with the internet and the XOs.
> 
> That fact is very clear if you see it on Google earth, with the sun turned "on", and you look the earth thousands of Km away, like a satellite. If you move the timeline you can see it very clearly.
> 
> 
> 
> Paolo Benini
> Montevideo
> 
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