Thanks for sharing these essays.  I still hold out hope that this book in its entirety will one day be available under a free license, as Squeak By Example is! On the subject of large questions, Antoine asks: On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 12:48 PM, Antoine van Gelder <<a href="mailto:antoine@g7.org.za">antoine@g7.org.za</a>> wrote: <div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> ...and one question: What is the goal of a project if it's an education project ?</blockquote><div> </div><div>There's some relation here to questions about how much research and introspection is considered fundamental. SJ </div></div> <div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, May 2, 2008 at 2:55 PM, Kim Rose <<a href="mailto:kim.rose@vpri.org">kim.rose@vpri.org</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> Hi, Greg - The book Alan refers to is "Powerful Ideas in the Classroom" by BJ Conn and me  -- you can see more here: <a href="http://www.squeakland.org/sqmedia/books/kimbjbook.html" target="_blank">http://www.squeakland.org/sqmedia/books/kimbjbook.html</a> The essay Alan "passed around" was originally the foreword for this book. cheers, Kim <div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c"> On May 2, 2008, at 11:51 AM, Greg Smith (gregmsmi) wrote: > Hi Alan et al, > > Great article, thanks. I'm struck by how similar it is to Marvin > Minsky's recent post on learning mathematics > (<a href="http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Marvin_Minsky_essays" target="_blank">http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Marvin_Minsky_essays</a>). > > Interestingly, both use the same topology (mapping) analogy for > learning. > > The end of your article refers to a book and projects in it. Can you > send a link to that? > > I really like your case that children have to try it out for > themselves > to fully appreciate the meaning of length or size. > > Understanding what science means by "knowing" was brought home for me > when the Children's Museum in Boston took out the old T-Rex model (now > outside) and replaced it with a new very different one. Until I was > about 20 years old, everyone said the old one represented what T-Rex > really looked like. Then he changed! > > Thanks, > > Greg S > > > Alan Kay <<a href="mailto:alan.nemo@yahoo.com">alan.nemo@yahoo.com</a>> > >> At the risk of trying to talk about education, here is another little >> essay with a few observations... >> >> <a href="http://www.vpri.org/pdf/human_condition.pdf" target="_blank">http://www.vpri.org/pdf/human_condition.pdf</a> > _______________________________________________ > Its.an.education.project mailing list > <a href="mailto:Its.an.education.project@tema.lo-res.org">Its.an.education.project@tema.lo-res.org</a> > <a href="http://lists.lo-res.org/mailman/listinfo/its.an.education.project" target="_blank">http://lists.lo-res.org/mailman/listinfo/its.an.education.project</a> _______________________________________________ Its.an.education.project mailing list <a href="mailto:Its.an.education.project@tema.lo-res.org">Its.an.education.project@tema.lo-res.org</a> <a href="http://lists.lo-res.org/mailman/listinfo/its.an.education.project" target="_blank">http://lists.lo-res.org/mailman/listinfo/its.an.education.project</a> </div></div></blockquote></div>