Re: [xmca] schools-without-computers-by-choice-and-conviction-that-they-dont-help-kids

[Huw Lloyd <huw.softdesigns@gmail.com>]

>
> I would be very interested to hear about various people's encounters with
> Scratch. Its a terrifically interesting enterprise that xmca o philes
> should
> a variety of equally interesting
> opinions about.
>
> mike
>
>
Scratch uses smalltalk.  I found this page interesting:

http://wiki.scratch.mit.edu/wiki/Squeak_Tutorial

I've had a quick look at Scratch.  It looks like a GUI language for
animating 'sprites'.  Looks fun.

I'm familiar with Alan Kay's Squeakland.  I think the entry time (entry
level) is more significant with Squeakland -- the interface is more
abstract.  Though this also gives much more depth of expression and
creation.

The Squeakland depth seems like a good intermediary between Scratch and
vanilla smalltalk.  I suspect kids would struggle to get beyond the
immediate limits of Scratch.  Is there a meta-scratch too for adding their
own functions?  Though perhaps the idea is that when they know what a
function they expand into other programming languages?

Huw



>  On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 4:37 AM, Bill Kerr <billkerr@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > The constructionist use of computers in schools as developed by Seymour
> > Papert and allies is still a fruitful one. The modern incarnation of the
> > software is scratch from MIT http://scratch.mit.edu/ but it remains true
> > that to understand its educational philosophy fully you need to read some
> > books. One idea is "hard play". Another is "low entry, high ceiling".
> This
> > was modified a little in scratch to "low floor, wide walls".
> >
> > Moreover, the one laptop per child (OLPC) as developed by Negroponte and
> > allies remains a worthwhile experiment to kick start learning for third
> > world children.
> >
> > Peter, all the link shows is that mediocre use of computers leads to
> > mediocre results.
> >
> > On Wed, Oct 26, 2011 at 8:24 PM, Peter Smagorinsky <smago@uga.edu>
> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > >
> >
> http://blogs.ajc.com/get-schooled-blog/2011/10/26/schools-without-computers-by-choice-and-conviction-that-they-dont-help-kids/?cxntfid=blogs_get_schooled_blog
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