[IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Digest 2012-09-18

[Dr. Gerald Ardito]

Daniel and others,

This thread has really inspired me. I am going to work with my
students to develop Sugar activities.
I have James' book. Are there other resources I need?

Thanks.
Gerald

On Thu, Sep 20, 2012 at 4:16 AM, Kevin Mark <kevin.mark at verizon.net> wrote:
>
>
> --- On Wed, 9/19/12, S. Daniel Francis <francis at sugarlabs.org> wrote:
>
>> From: S. Daniel Francis <francis at sugarlabs.org>
>> Subject: Re: [IAEP] [Sugar-devel] Sugar Digest 2012-09-18
>> To: "Kevin Mark" <kevin.mark at verizon.net>
>> Cc: "James Simmons" <nicestep at gmail.com>, "iaep" <iaep at lists.sugarlabs.org>, "Sugar-dev Devel" <sugar-devel at lists.sugarlabs.org>, community-news at lists.sugarlabs.org
>> Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2012, 11:27 PM
>> Hi Kevin,
>>
>> 2012/9/19 Kevin Mark <kevin.mark at verizon.net>:
>> > Hearing from the kids who are making Sugar activities
>> and more contributions, I'm really wanting to
>> > know what teaching environment made this possible?
>>
>> Summing my case all the cases I listened about, we usually
>> learn by our self.
>> Thinking about why Sugar, well, we could make desktop
>> applications,
>> but a free and decent way to share a program is difficult to
>> find and
>> there's not always a community where we can share what we
>> make.
>
> While I can't speak for Sugar Labs, this sound like a very good problems to address. "Scratch" has a website to 'upload' its programs. I would really love to see a way to help young sugar activity hacker have a place for them to 'hack' on their games/activities. Maybe Activities.sugarlabs.org or some website in .uy? And maybe a forum? (I'm not someone to do this sadly but would think that the very capable people around the sugar community would find this idea motivating)
>
>>  Also I
>> think Sugar needs activities, unlike desktops, where
>> practically all
>> is already made.
>>
>> Just Edward suggested us to tell our stories, but at the
>> moment I'll
>> not get into many details and only answer your questions.
>>
>> > Are there activity hacking classes?
>> In Uruguay there is only one activity hacking teacher:
>> Flavio Danesse.
>
> OH wow. I have recently started to 'hack' on JAMedia and JAMediaTube. So I know his work. I wonder if making videos of his lecture would be something he could do and the kids could watch?
>
>> He is an IT teacher, and every year he organizes a workshop
>> where he
>> teaches volunteer students to program in Python. The group
>> "Python
>> Joven", in English "Young Python"..
>
> If you and others can make 'clubs' in your area, that would be great, maybe they can setup a web 'forum' for everyone to exchange ideas.
>
>
>>
>> Currently, his students contributing here are Agustin
>> Zubiaga and
>> Cristhofer Travieso, they told me about another student who
>> develops
>> applications for Android.
>>
>> > Is this kind of experimentation part of a turtleart
>> class?
>> For my part I can say "yes and no"... When I received my XO
>> with Sugar
>> I liked very much TurtleArt, but the teachers don't teach it
>> very
>> often, I had to look for documentation.
>
> Oh, that is sad, I'm surprised to read that.
>
>
>>
>> >Have kids 'goggled' about programming on their own time
>> and wanted to know about programming?
>> Now you are right, I learn practically all 'googling'.
>> Flavio's
>> students told me they also learn(ed) a big part of what they
>> know
>> searching and investigating by them self.
>> I think it's better because we can learn what we are
>> interested in,
>> also if it's not related with Sugar.
>
> yes that is true. learning what you want (being an auto-didact) is powerful.
>
>>
>> > Are there computer programming classes and teachers
>> that have assignments that ask the kids to explore?
>>
>> Programming is not often a subject at the school.
>> I know about optional workshops, like Flavio's. My parents
>> are
>> teachers, and about three-four years ago, when I was ten
>> years old, I
>> used to go to the highschool where my parents worked and I
>> listened to
>> a workshop about web design (basic HTML development) and
>> graphic
>> design (with GIMP). That workshop was not a way to get
>> young
>> programmers, but it removed me the fear of seeing a source
>> code as
>> something strange or made for be understood by non-human
>> people.
>
> Yes, many people have a fear of this 'scary' stuff. It something everyone who wants to learn about programming has to face. Turtleart and Scratch was suppose to help.
>
>>
>> Cheers.
>> ~danielf
>>
>> P.S: Sorry, I don't speak English very well.
>
> Thanks you very much for your answers. I think you write English very well!
> -Kevin aka kevix
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