Hello Mokurai <div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> Would you take a look at <a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/Turtle_Art/Tutorials" target="_blank">http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/Turtle_Art/Tutorials</a>, and talk with us, the Spanish translators, and the teachers about a) translating these pages into Spanish b) what is needed so that teachers can use these ideas in class </blockquote> <div> I find the link empty... a) Yes. I can help translating your tutorials for Turtle (please send me the exact link) . When I don t understand I ask. b) No. Unfortunately I cannot make class planifications on the subject. My offer for fitting in uruguayan secondary school curricular structure planifications of classes using Abacus.xo still stands. --I ve studied maths and learning for 4 full years exclusively and been working on highschools for the last 10 years, teaching from negative numbers to matrixes and integrals, but I am just an newbie when going into programming languages... sorry.-- </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> My tutorials combine a high-level look at a topic, ideas for introducing some part of it to children as early as possible, and a Turtle Art demonstration of some part of the idea. Each idea needs expansion to lesson plans, with feedback from classrooms and individual tutoring on how they work and how they need to be improved. Each idea also needs implementation in Logo (which we can get by automatic translation from TA), Python, Smalltalk/Etoys, GeoGebra, and other software. On top of all that, we need to create a usable sequence of ideas and examples leading from no computer (You Be the Turtle tutorial), through introducing TA (Mathematics and Art tutorial), through the essential concepts and techniques of programming and Computer Science, to competence in Python, Logo, Smalltalk, and any other language of interest. > Ana. > > ps. > Working among early grades students is harder and it less payed-- because > traditionally upper grade studying needed society stimulation. > In uruguay 2ndary teachers is a strictly ordered set ( 19 lists, one for > each region) , and in that order is invited to choose --every year--- the > grade and the school to work. Nobody wants to work with early years of > public highschool having other choice... > (system could help education a lot with some really little changes, but as > little changes don t make political issues, nobody promotes them) In computer programming, making many little improvements is known as refactoring. <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44936.Refactoring" target="_blank">http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/44936.Refactoring</a> "Each refactoring step is simple-seemingly too simple to be worth doing. Refactoring may involve moving a field from one class to another, or pulling some code out of a method to turn it into its own method, or even pushing some code up or down a hierarchy. While these individual steps may seem elementary, the cumulative effect of such small changes can radically improve the design. Refactoring is a proven way to prevent software decay." The payoff is huge. We must find incentives to work on it. Perhaps for some teachers, being able to affect the design of the teaching may be a useful incentive. I know that in the profession generally, the biggest incentive available is the possibility of teaching effectively. </blockquote><div> Thanks for the concept of refactoring, educational system would take great advatange of it, but I don t see in my place any political interest on that. It is just a fact. As you say, the possibility of teaching effectively can be enaugh reward, but I learnt ---in these working years-- that your individual effort can fail completely when working among a disfunctional system and we must not row with a strong current against :) </div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); padding-left: 1ex;"> > _______________________________________________ > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) > <a href="mailto:IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org">IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org</a> > <a href="http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep" target="_blank">http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep</a> -- 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. <a href="http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks" target="_blank">http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks</a> </blockquote></div>