Re: Looking for good souls

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Re: Looking for good souls

Markus Gälli-3

On Apr 22, 2006, at 9:41 PM, Bert Freudenberg wrote:

> I actually still think the "one-list-for-all" is best, because even  
> if you don't understand half of what is discussed, you at least get  
> to know that more advanced topics exist.
>
> However, I can see how a newbie might be afraid of posting some  
> basic question to squeak-dev. So to get new folks to participate,  
> I'd make it explicit in the list name that it really is okay to ask  
> even the dumbest questions. How about
>
> "squeak-newbies"
>
> Can't get much more inviting than that, can it?

I also think it is important not to end up with a plethora of lists,  
so my suggestion is to reuse squeakland for also posing and answering  
basic smalltalk questions.
- Kim, would it be ok to ask smalltalk questions on squeakland?
I think one factor of the success of the french squeak list, is that  
it focuses on education, be it with etoys or smalltalk.

Cheers,

Markus

>
> - Bert -
>
> Am 22.04.2006 um 20:49 schrieb Hans N Beck:
>
>> Hi,
>>
>> why not simply squeak-help ?
>>
>> Regards
>>
>> Hans
>>
>> Am 22.04.2006 um 18:58 schrieb stéphane ducasse:
>>
>>> sounds cool.
>>>> In keeping with zen and the importance of approaching the world  
>>>> with "beginner's mind",  I like squeak-beginners.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>
>


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Re: Looking for good souls

Markus Gälli-3

On Apr 23, 2006, at 11:16 AM, francois schnell wrote:

>> On 23/04/06, Markus Gaelli <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>
>>
>> I also think it is important not to end up with a plethora of lists,
>> so my suggestion is to reuse squeakland for also posing and answering
>> basic smalltalk questions.
>> - Kim, would it be ok to ask smalltalk questions on squeakland?
>> I think one factor of the success of the french squeak list, is that
>> it focuses on education, be it with etoys or smalltalk.
>
> I actually think it would be a bad  idea  to mix using etoys  
> questions with finding your way in the class browser (not the same  
> thing, not the same targeted audience).
>
> Concerning the french Squeak-list, which is a good list, if you  
> look closely you won't see a lot people actually *learning*  
> smalltalk : giving example of problem they have with their code,  
> asking for help, etc.
>
> For the moment the Squeak lists reflect its community state.
> Apart from Squeakland  (for etoys), Squeak is  orientated  research/
> hackers which is OK   but I believe it *needs" students/teachers/
> people *learning* Squeak to produce useful tools-apps (not mainly  
> research ones)
>

Exactly. With you, Hillaire, Stef, Serge and others we have these  
educational but still technical people in the french list - as there  
are some willing and helpful old time squeakers like Scott, Bert,  
Yoshiki and others in squeakland.

So I actually don't understand why we should not strive to get all  
this people together who are interested in Squeak as a learning  
platform, be it for smalltalk, etoys and the rest of the universe -  
as long as there is some interest to keep squeakland of course.

I don't think we are enough to allow us to split into more and more  
subgroups, think about the currently quite quiet lists of tweak and  
croquet.
Instead we better join forces in some "squeak and learning" list, and  
isn't that what squeakland is all about?

Please reply to squeakland also, there is not too much traffic on it  
either...
Or maybe neither you nor Stef are registered there, which I'd find a  
bit strange ;-)

Cheers,

Markus
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Re: Looking for good souls

stéphane ducasse-2
markus

I just thought that lot of people in squeakland are not really  
programmers at the low level,
but more into using etoy. May be I'm wrong?

Stef

On 23 avr. 06, at 11:59, Markus Gaelli wrote:

>
> On Apr 23, 2006, at 11:16 AM, francois schnell wrote:
>
>>> On 23/04/06, Markus Gaelli <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>> I also think it is important not to end up with a plethora of lists,
>>> so my suggestion is to reuse squeakland for also posing and  
>>> answering
>>> basic smalltalk questions.
>>> - Kim, would it be ok to ask smalltalk questions on squeakland?
>>> I think one factor of the success of the french squeak list, is that
>>> it focuses on education, be it with etoys or smalltalk.
>>
>> I actually think it would be a bad  idea  to mix using etoys  
>> questions with finding your way in the class browser (not the same  
>> thing, not the same targeted audience).
>>
>> Concerning the french Squeak-list, which is a good list, if you  
>> look closely you won't see a lot people actually *learning*  
>> smalltalk : giving example of problem they have with their code,  
>> asking for help, etc.
>>
>> For the moment the Squeak lists reflect its community state.
>> Apart from Squeakland  (for etoys), Squeak is  orientated  
>> research/hackers which is OK   but I believe it *needs" students/
>> teachers/people *learning* Squeak to produce useful tools-apps  
>> (not mainly research ones)
>>
>
> Exactly. With you, Hillaire, Stef, Serge and others we have these  
> educational but still technical people in the french list - as  
> there are some willing and helpful old time squeakers like Scott,  
> Bert, Yoshiki and others in squeakland.
>
> So I actually don't understand why we should not strive to get all  
> this people together who are interested in Squeak as a learning  
> platform, be it for smalltalk, etoys and the rest of the universe -  
> as long as there is some interest to keep squeakland of course.
>
> I don't think we are enough to allow us to split into more and more  
> subgroups, think about the currently quite quiet lists of tweak and  
> croquet.
> Instead we better join forces in some "squeak and learning" list,  
> and isn't that what squeakland is all about?
>
> Please reply to squeakland also, there is not too much traffic on  
> it either...
> Or maybe neither you nor Stef are registered there, which I'd find  
> a bit strange ;-)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Markus
>

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Re: Looking for good souls

Markus Gälli-3
Hi Stef,

The squeakland website and image (both the image and the image)  
currently does not fit for tool building smalltalk learners. This is  
correct.
Likewise the geeky and technical image of squeak-dev does not fit for  
education of object oriented programmers nubs.

Your tutorial in squeak 3.8 image helps here. Why should this not be  
part of the squeakland-image?
Why shouldn't we have a button in the squeakland image which beams  
the newbie over the fence into a good smalltalk teaching environment?

What I like about the french list, is that this distinction is not so  
serious.

I'd like to have one english speaking list about the use of Squeak  
for and in education, and this would include both etoys and smalltalk.
And I suggested to use squeakland for this, as there are already lots  
of good souls there, who do focus on education.
Actually I think that open minded future software engineers can learn  
a lot from the etoys paradigm.

I also made the experience that people learn Smalltalk much faster,  
when they have been introduced to EToys first.

Finally I have the feeling that the lack of technical questions/  
discussions about Smalltalk on squeakland hindered the development of  
EToys.

Cheers,

Markus

On Apr 23, 2006, at 1:24 PM, stéphane ducasse wrote:

> markus
>
> I just thought that lot of people in squeakland are not really
> programmers at the low level,
> but more into using etoy. May be I'm wrong?
>
> Stef
>
> On 23 avr. 06, at 11:59, Markus Gaelli wrote:
>
>>
>> On Apr 23, 2006, at 11:16 AM, francois schnell wrote:
>>
>>>> On 23/04/06, Markus Gaelli <[hidden email]> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I also think it is important not to end up with a plethora of  
>>>> lists,
>>>> so my suggestion is to reuse squeakland for also posing and
>>>> answering
>>>> basic smalltalk questions.
>>>> - Kim, would it be ok to ask smalltalk questions on squeakland?
>>>> I think one factor of the success of the french squeak list, is  
>>>> that
>>>> it focuses on education, be it with etoys or smalltalk.
>>>
>>> I actually think it would be a bad  idea  to mix using etoys
>>> questions with finding your way in the class browser (not the same
>>> thing, not the same targeted audience).
>>>
>>> Concerning the french Squeak-list, which is a good list, if you
>>> look closely you won't see a lot people actually *learning*
>>> smalltalk : giving example of problem they have with their code,
>>> asking for help, etc.
>>>
>>> For the moment the Squeak lists reflect its community state.
>>> Apart from Squeakland  (for etoys), Squeak is  orientated
>>> research/hackers which is OK   but I believe it *needs" students/
>>> teachers/people *learning* Squeak to produce useful tools-apps
>>> (not mainly research ones)
>>>
>>
>> Exactly. With you, Hillaire, Stef, Serge and others we have these
>> educational but still technical people in the french list - as
>> there are some willing and helpful old time squeakers like Scott,
>> Bert, Yoshiki and others in squeakland.
>>
>> So I actually don't understand why we should not strive to get all
>> this people together who are interested in Squeak as a learning
>> platform, be it for smalltalk, etoys and the rest of the universe -
>> as long as there is some interest to keep squeakland of course.
>>
>> I don't think we are enough to allow us to split into more and more
>> subgroups, think about the currently quite quiet lists of tweak and
>> croquet.
>> Instead we better join forces in some "squeak and learning" list,
>> and isn't that what squeakland is all about?
>>
>> Please reply to squeakland also, there is not too much traffic on
>> it either...
>> Or maybe neither you nor Stef are registered there, which I'd find
>> a bit strange ;-)
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Markus
>>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Squeakland mailing list
> [hidden email]
> http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland


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Re: Looking for good souls

Alan Kay
In reply to this post by Markus Gälli-3
Hi Markus --

I don't think this would be a great idea. Squeakland is explicitly for
teachers and parents (and they are very shy as it is). I think it would be
very confusing to convolve discussions about Etoys with discussions about
Squeak (especially since most of these users think Etoys is Squeak).

Let's set up a separate list please.

Cheers,

Alan

-----------

At 02:59 AM 4/23/2006, Markus Gaelli wrote:

>On Apr 23, 2006, at 11:16 AM, francois schnell wrote:
>
> >> On 23/04/06, Markus Gaelli <[hidden email]> wrote:
> >>
> >>
> >> I also think it is important not to end up with a plethora of lists,
> >> so my suggestion is to reuse squeakland for also posing and answering
> >> basic smalltalk questions.
> >> - Kim, would it be ok to ask smalltalk questions on squeakland?
> >> I think one factor of the success of the french squeak list, is that
> >> it focuses on education, be it with etoys or smalltalk.
> >
> > I actually think it would be a bad  idea  to mix using etoys
> > questions with finding your way in the class browser (not the same
> > thing, not the same targeted audience).
> >
> > Concerning the french Squeak-list, which is a good list, if you
> > look closely you won't see a lot people actually *learning*
> > smalltalk : giving example of problem they have with their code,
> > asking for help, etc.
> >
> > For the moment the Squeak lists reflect its community state.
> > Apart from Squeakland  (for etoys), Squeak is  orientated  research/
> > hackers which is OK   but I believe it *needs" students/teachers/
> > people *learning* Squeak to produce useful tools-apps (not mainly
> > research ones)
> >
>
>Exactly. With you, Hillaire, Stef, Serge and others we have these
>educational but still technical people in the french list - as there
>are some willing and helpful old time squeakers like Scott, Bert,
>Yoshiki and others in squeakland.
>
>So I actually don't understand why we should not strive to get all
>this people together who are interested in Squeak as a learning
>platform, be it for smalltalk, etoys and the rest of the universe -
>as long as there is some interest to keep squeakland of course.
>
>I don't think we are enough to allow us to split into more and more
>subgroups, think about the currently quite quiet lists of tweak and
>croquet.
>Instead we better join forces in some "squeak and learning" list, and
>isn't that what squeakland is all about?
>
>Please reply to squeakland also, there is not too much traffic on it
>either...
>Or maybe neither you nor Stef are registered there, which I'd find a
>bit strange ;-)
>
>Cheers,
>
>Markus
>_______________________________________________
>Squeakland mailing list
>[hidden email]
>http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland


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Re: Looking for good souls

Offray Vladimir Luna Cárdenas
In reply to this post by Markus Gälli-3
Hi all,



Markus Gaelli wrote:

>Hi Stef,
>
>The squeakland website and image (both the image and the image)  
>currently does not fit for tool building smalltalk learners. This is  
>correct.
>Likewise the geeky and technical image of squeak-dev does not fit for  
>education of object oriented programmers nubs.
>
>Your tutorial in squeak 3.8 image helps here. Why should this not be  
>part of the squeakland-image?
>Why shouldn't we have a button in the squeakland image which beams  
>the newbie over the fence into a good smalltalk teaching environment?
>
>  
>
I even didn't know the squeak-dev image, but this last question seems a
good one. Most of the time Squeak has been oriented toward childs, and I
mean, really young childs, so what about "a system for children of all
ages"?. I'm trying to use Squeak with a pretty eclectic groups of
students in university (the only thing they share is that all them are
pregrade students) and I come to squeak after having  previous
experience with Scheme and Python (that were previous sucessfull
experience with students with a more common background and interest in
"Computer Science", which I prefer to call "Informatics"[1]). It was a
pretty good thing to choose Squeak this time, I'm proud of that choice
and I will stick to it in the future. This construction was not an easy
one and is still being made. We need more content that can be used for
the students profile I talked before, here in LatinAmerica, and we're
trying to produce a selection of lectures and in the end some kind of
original material.

[1] http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/informatics.shtml

Now we can even make a little exploration of E-toys, but my feeling is
that the time is comming when we need to start learnings and asking
questions about Smalltalk.

>What I like about the french list, is that this distinction is not so  
>serious.
>
>I'd like to have one english speaking list about the use of Squeak  
>for and in education, and this would include both etoys and smalltalk.
>And I suggested to use squeakland for this, as there are already lots  
>of good souls there, who do focus on education.
>Actually I think that open minded future software engineers can learn  
>a lot from the etoys paradigm.
>
>  
>
I'm agree with this also. I think that both themes are not disjoint and
is a bridge for making "a system for children of all ages". Sorry if
this mail is taking too long, but I will try to talk more about bridges
and my previous experience teaching "Introduction to Informatics"
(anyway I read all of you a lot, so its time for revenge :-P )

In that course we try to make a first exploration of informatics from
the point of view of a "first in width" instead of the classical one (at
least here), the "first in depth" (you know, the one where the students
firs encounter with informatics is procedural structured programming, in
C/C++, then Object Oriented Programming, In Java/.Net, then Data Base,
etc... and in the end of their career studies they come with some kind
of revelation and they join the pieces and say "Ohhh this is
informatics"). In our first in width approach we try to know something
about story, social context, subfields in a panoramic way and the course
then goes to programming (because they need to being motivated and
prepared about the "now in depth" approach of the following courses). In
my previous semesters I tried to follow the path proposed by the people
of Teach Scheme Project, about:

 1) Keep away from Machine Details (C/C++ is not enougth far from a
beginer point of view in my student and teacher experience) and

 2) Focus on correctness instead of eficiency (focus on program desing).

and they key was the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple Sintactically).
Was really nice to see all the class having their first program working
and understood. And the teach scheme project has a emphasis on learned
oriented programming environments, so was nice to see programming seeing
as a "liberal art" instead of something teached for programers by
programers (in the same way that mathematics is not only for
mathematicians). To make a long story short, then I probed python
because it maintain the same K.I.S.S. principle and will be more like
the program languages they will find or have found in the rest of ther
studies. That was nice if all the people were students of informatics but...

This semester I have and eclectic group (the course was made an open
one), people from biology, informatics, engeenering, nutrition, some of
them are just starting their studies, some of them were finishing
them... and scheme and python were not the solution for that group. The
programming environment was "deprived"... was something like a "wordpad
with sintactical hightlighting"... their motivations where different, so
I need to appeal to a shared cultural background this time, and
computers where nice multimedia, connected, feature rich machine for
them. In that context Squek/Smalltalk was the answer. It provides a
bridge from computers in the world to computers in the classroom, and
different people were more motivated.

Now we need to start to make bridges from computers in the classrom to
programming as a part of a scientific discipline and even part of life,
and young children materials are not filling the gap for my students. We
need to make a bridge between our classroom and your community... that's
the reason why I'm here and I hope you help me.

>I also made the experience that people learn Smalltalk much faster,  
>when they have been introduced to EToys first.
>
>  
>
Thanks for the advice. I will try to follow it, this week.

>Finally I have the feeling that the lack of technical questions/  
>discussions about Smalltalk on squeakland hindered the development of  
>EToys.
>
>  
>
I feel that few bridges between communities are making education a
mission impossible... but I have made a log mail already...

Cheers,

Offray

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Re: Looking for good souls

Jim Ford-2
In reply to this post by Alan Kay
I'd be _very_ interested (and surprised) if _any_ schools in the U.K.
are showing interest in Squeak! I'd be particularly interested in the
comments of any U.K. teachers, or school technicians (like myself),
regarding Squeak in primary or secondary education. As I've mentioned
before - if it aint in the curriculum, it doesn't even get a passing
consideration. In my experience, in a leading independent Secondary
School, saving a Word document or Powerpoint presentation on a floppy is
as technical as it gets! I wish someone on this list who's a U.K.
teacher would pipe up and prove me wrong!

Jim Ford
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Re: Looking for good souls

Kim Rose
Jim,

I was actually just in London (for 2 days a week ago) and met with a
woman who is working on use of computers in schools (but most
recently in Scotland).  She is hoping to introduce Squeak Etoys to
the "Teachers TV" Commissioner in London (do you know about "Teachers
TV"?) and hoping to get interest in airing the "Squeakers" DVD via
"Teachers TV".  If this happens I am sure we could gather more
interest in the UK.

Here is one of the projects she's been a part of:
http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/5to14/problemsolving/index.asp  and she
felt Squeak could be a great amplifier for this problem solving
curriclulum.

Following is part of another email I received a few months back (and
in the interest of privacy do not want to share the name w/out
permissioin):

".....I'm head of physics and electronics at the Hundred of Hoo
School in Rocester, Kent, England."

I am sure there are more UK teachers using Squeak Etoys --  the
problem is many of our users are quiet and do not participate in
these mailing lists and fora, so we have an incomplete picture of our
user community.

Perhaps this recent exchange will motivate others from the U.K. to
"pipe up" as you say.

We'd love to see you at SqueakFest in Chicago this summer!  Please join us!
http://interactive.colum.edu/partners/squeakfest/
cheers
Kim


At 8:33 PM +0100 4/24/06, Jim Ford wrote:

>I'd be _very_ interested (and surprised) if _any_ schools in the U.K.
>are showing interest in Squeak! I'd be particularly interested in the
>comments of any U.K. teachers, or school technicians (like myself),
>regarding Squeak in primary or secondary education. As I've mentioned
>before - if it aint in the curriculum, it doesn't even get a passing
>consideration. In my experience, in a leading independent Secondary
>School, saving a Word document or Powerpoint presentation on a floppy is
>as technical as it gets! I wish someone on this list who's a U.K.
>teacher would pipe up and prove me wrong!
>
>Jim Ford
>_______________________________________________
>Squeakland mailing list
>[hidden email]
>http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland

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Re: Looking for good souls

Alan Kay
In reply to this post by Jim Ford-2
How about Logo? It had a real vogue in the UK some years back.

Cheers, Alan

At 12:33 PM 4/24/2006, Jim Ford wrote:

>I'd be _very_ interested (and surprised) if _any_ schools in the U.K.
>are showing interest in Squeak! I'd be particularly interested in the
>comments of any U.K. teachers, or school technicians (like myself),
>regarding Squeak in primary or secondary education. As I've mentioned
>before - if it aint in the curriculum, it doesn't even get a passing
>consideration. In my experience, in a leading independent Secondary
>School, saving a Word document or Powerpoint presentation on a floppy is
>as technical as it gets! I wish someone on this list who's a U.K.
>teacher would pipe up and prove me wrong!
>
>Jim Ford
>_______________________________________________
>Squeakland mailing list
>[hidden email]
>http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland


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Re: Looking for good souls

Kelly-10
In reply to this post by Jim Ford-2
Hi Jim,
 
I can't speak for any Schools but my University here in the UK has a keen interest in Squeak.
My understanding is that they plan to work with Schools possibly doing workshops to promote interest in computing primarily programming ( but don't quote me on that).
 
I have just completed my Honours project based on Squeak. E-toys for the classroom. Which was to develop a set of interactive lessons to introduce children (late primary/early secondary) to the basic ideas of object oriented programming. I also know of two other students who are doing something similar for different age groups and I think one of them may even be using Alice.
 
I think Squeak is a great educational tool and before taking on this project I had never heard of it. So perhaps raising awareness would help. Or for someone like ourselves to take the initiative to introduce squeak to Schools and Universities. I have an interest in teaching and would most definitely use Squeak again given the opportunity.
 
Regards
 
Kelly
 
 
 
 
On 24/04/06, Jim Ford <[hidden email]> wrote:
I'd be _very_ interested (and surprised) if _any_ schools in the U.K.
are showing interest in Squeak! I'd be particularly interested in the
comments of any U.K. teachers, or school technicians (like myself),
regarding Squeak in primary or secondary education. As I've mentioned
before - if it aint in the curriculum, it doesn't even get a passing
consideration. In my experience, in a leading independent Secondary
School, saving a Word document or Powerpoint presentation on a floppy is
as technical as it gets! I wish someone on this list who's a U.K.
teacher would pipe up and prove me wrong!

Jim Ford
_______________________________________________
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[hidden email]
http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland


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Re: Looking for good souls

Markus Gälli-3
Hi Kelly,

I am going to a "day of c.s." in my old uni this Friday, and will  
have a little Squeak booth there.
There will be an inauguration speech of a prof about OO in Bavarian  
high-school classrooms.

Is your Honours project available somewhere? It might be interesting  
for others on this list and also for squeak.de as well to translate  
it and put it on our site.

At which university are you?

Cheers,

Markus


On Apr 25, 2006, at 12:09 AM, Kelly wrote:

> Hi Jim,
>
> I can't speak for any Schools but my University here in the UK has  
> a keen interest in Squeak.
> My understanding is that they plan to work with Schools possibly  
> doing workshops to promote interest in computing primarily  
> programming ( but don't quote me on that).
>
> I have just completed my Honours project based on Squeak. E-toys  
> for the classroom. Which was to develop a set of interactive  
> lessons to introduce children (late primary/early secondary) to the  
> basic ideas of object oriented programming. I also know of two  
> other students who are doing something similar for different age  
> groups and I think one of them may even be using Alice.
>
> I think Squeak is a great educational tool and before taking on  
> this project I had never heard of it. So perhaps raising awareness  
> would help. Or for someone like ourselves to take the initiative to  
> introduce squeak to Schools and Universities. I have an interest in  
> teaching and would most definitely use Squeak again given the  
> opportunity.
>
> Regards
>
> Kelly
>
>
>
>
> On 24/04/06, Jim Ford <[hidden email]> wrote: I'd  
> be _very_ interested (and surprised) if _any_ schools in the U.K.
> are showing interest in Squeak! I'd be particularly interested in the
> comments of any U.K. teachers, or school technicians (like myself),
> regarding Squeak in primary or secondary education. As I've mentioned
> before - if it aint in the curriculum, it doesn't even get a passing
> consideration. In my experience, in a leading independent Secondary
> School, saving a Word document or Powerpoint presentation on a  
> floppy is
> as technical as it gets! I wish someone on this list who's a U.K.
> teacher would pipe up and prove me wrong!
>
> Jim Ford
> _______________________________________________
> Squeakland mailing list
> [hidden email]
> http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland
>
> _______________________________________________
> Squeakland mailing list
> [hidden email]
> http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland

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Re: Looking for good souls

stéphane ducasse-2
In reply to this post by Offray Vladimir Luna Cárdenas
Hi offray

Excellent, I can help you.
        - videos: http://www.iam.unibe.ch/~ducasse/Videos/
        - DVD: http://www.squeak.org/Download/SqueakDVD/
        - free Smalltalk books: http://www.iam.unibe.ch/~ducasse/FreeBooks.html
        - my lectures
                http://prog2.vub.ac.be/smalltalk/news.php (we will be launching a  
new program soon so that all
                smalltalk teachers can share their lectures)
                You can find old slides in ppt at: http://www.iam.unibe.ch/~ducasse/ 
Web/ArchivedLectures/

You have also
        http://smallwiki.unibe.ch/botsinc/

Stef

On 24 avr. 06, at 15:16, Offray Vladimir Luna Cárdenas wrote:

> Hi all,
>
>
>
> Markus Gaelli wrote:
>
>> Hi Stef,
>>
>> The squeakland website and image (both the image and the image)  
>> currently does not fit for tool building smalltalk learners. This  
>> is  correct.
>> Likewise the geeky and technical image of squeak-dev does not fit  
>> for  education of object oriented programmers nubs.
>>
>> Your tutorial in squeak 3.8 image helps here. Why should this not  
>> be  part of the squeakland-image?
>> Why shouldn't we have a button in the squeakland image which  
>> beams  the newbie over the fence into a good smalltalk teaching  
>> environment?
>>
>>
> I even didn't know the squeak-dev image, but this last question  
> seems a good one. Most of the time Squeak has been oriented toward  
> childs, and I mean, really young childs, so what about "a system  
> for children of all ages"?. I'm trying to use Squeak with a pretty  
> eclectic groups of students in university (the only thing they  
> share is that all them are pregrade students) and I come to squeak  
> after having  previous experience with Scheme and Python (that were  
> previous sucessfull experience with students with a more common  
> background and interest in "Computer Science", which I prefer to  
> call "Informatics"[1]). It was a pretty good thing to choose Squeak  
> this time, I'm proud of that choice and I will stick to it in the  
> future. This construction was not an easy one and is still being  
> made. We need more content that can be used for the students  
> profile I talked before, here in LatinAmerica, and we're trying to  
> produce a selection of lectures and in the end some kind of  
> original material.
>
> [1] http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/informatics.shtml
>
> Now we can even make a little exploration of E-toys, but my feeling  
> is that the time is comming when we need to start learnings and  
> asking questions about Smalltalk.
>
>> What I like about the french list, is that this distinction is not  
>> so  serious.
>>
>> I'd like to have one english speaking list about the use of  
>> Squeak  for and in education, and this would include both etoys  
>> and smalltalk.
>> And I suggested to use squeakland for this, as there are already  
>> lots  of good souls there, who do focus on education.
>> Actually I think that open minded future software engineers can  
>> learn  a lot from the etoys paradigm.
>>
>>
> I'm agree with this also. I think that both themes are not disjoint  
> and is a bridge for making "a system for children of all ages".  
> Sorry if this mail is taking too long, but I will try to talk more  
> about bridges and my previous experience teaching "Introduction to  
> Informatics" (anyway I read all of you a lot, so its time for  
> revenge :-P )
>
> In that course we try to make a first exploration of informatics  
> from the point of view of a "first in width" instead of the  
> classical one (at least here), the "first in depth" (you know, the  
> one where the students firs encounter with informatics is  
> procedural structured programming, in C/C++, then Object Oriented  
> Programming, In Java/.Net, then Data Base, etc... and in the end of  
> their career studies they come with some kind of revelation and  
> they join the pieces and say "Ohhh this is informatics"). In our  
> first in width approach we try to know something about story,  
> social context, subfields in a panoramic way and the course then  
> goes to programming (because they need to being motivated and  
> prepared about the "now in depth" approach of the following  
> courses). In my previous semesters I tried to follow the path  
> proposed by the people of Teach Scheme Project, about:
>
> 1) Keep away from Machine Details (C/C++ is not enougth far from a  
> beginer point of view in my student and teacher experience) and
>
> 2) Focus on correctness instead of eficiency (focus on program  
> desing).
>
> and they key was the K.I.S.S. principle (Keep It Simple  
> Sintactically). Was really nice to see all the class having their  
> first program working and understood. And the teach scheme project  
> has a emphasis on learned oriented programming environments, so was  
> nice to see programming seeing as a "liberal art" instead of  
> something teached for programers by programers (in the same way  
> that mathematics is not only for mathematicians). To make a long  
> story short, then I probed python because it maintain the same  
> K.I.S.S. principle and will be more like the program languages they  
> will find or have found in the rest of ther studies. That was nice  
> if all the people were students of informatics but...
>
> This semester I have and eclectic group (the course was made an  
> open one), people from biology, informatics, engeenering,  
> nutrition, some of them are just starting their studies, some of  
> them were finishing them... and scheme and python were not the  
> solution for that group. The programming environment was  
> "deprived"... was something like a "wordpad with sintactical  
> hightlighting"... their motivations where different, so I need to  
> appeal to a shared cultural background this time, and computers  
> where nice multimedia, connected, feature rich machine for them. In  
> that context Squek/Smalltalk was the answer. It provides a bridge  
> from computers in the world to computers in the classroom, and  
> different people were more motivated.
>
> Now we need to start to make bridges from computers in the classrom  
> to programming as a part of a scientific discipline and even part  
> of life, and young children materials are not filling the gap for  
> my students. We need to make a bridge between our classroom and  
> your community... that's the reason why I'm here and I hope you  
> help me.
>
>> I also made the experience that people learn Smalltalk much  
>> faster,  when they have been introduced to EToys first.
>>
>>
> Thanks for the advice. I will try to follow it, this week.
>
>> Finally I have the feeling that the lack of technical questions/  
>> discussions about Smalltalk on squeakland hindered the development  
>> of  EToys.
>>
>>
> I feel that few bridges between communities are making education a  
> mission impossible... but I have made a log mail already...
>
> Cheers,
>
> Offray
>
> --
>        El Directorio
> ------------------------------           .:| Tecnología |:.
> .:| Comunidad  |  Libertad |:.         \| Colombia |/
> ------------------------------
>   www.el-directorio.org
>


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Re: Looking for good souls

Kelly-10
In reply to this post by Markus Gälli-3
Hi Markus,
 
I am studying at The Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen, Scotland.
 
My project is not posted anywhere at the moment, it is due Friday. I am still making those last minute adjustments and write up. Although I do present on it tomorrow afternoon!
 
I will happily make it available for people to view. It is always nice to see other people's interpretation of squeak and how they use it to create E-toys.
 
Regards
 
Kelly
 
On 25/04/06, Markus Gaelli <[hidden email]> wrote:
Hi Kelly,

I am going to a "day of c.s." in my old uni this Friday, and will
have a little Squeak booth there.
There will be an inauguration speech of a prof about OO in Bavarian
high-school classrooms.

Is your Honours project available somewhere? It might be interesting
for others on this list and also for squeak.de as well to translate
it and put it on our site.

At which university are you?

Cheers,

Markus


On Apr 25, 2006, at 12:09 AM, Kelly wrote:

> Hi Jim,
>
> I can't speak for any Schools but my University here in the UK has
> a keen interest in Squeak.
> My understanding is that they plan to work with Schools possibly
> doing workshops to promote interest in computing primarily
> programming ( but don't quote me on that).
>
> I have just completed my Honours project based on Squeak. E-toys
> for the classroom. Which was to develop a set of interactive
> lessons to introduce children (late primary/early secondary) to the
> basic ideas of object oriented programming. I also know of two
> other students who are doing something similar for different age
> groups and I think one of them may even be using Alice.
>
> I think Squeak is a great educational tool and before taking on
> this project I had never heard of it. So perhaps raising awareness
> would help. Or for someone like ourselves to take the initiative to
> introduce squeak to Schools and Universities. I have an interest in
> teaching and would most definitely use Squeak again given the
> opportunity.
>
> Regards
>
> Kelly
>
>
>
>
> On 24/04/06, Jim Ford <[hidden email]> wrote: I'd
> be _very_ interested (and surprised) if _any_ schools in the U.K.
> are showing interest in Squeak! I'd be particularly interested in the
> comments of any U.K. teachers, or school technicians (like myself),
> regarding Squeak in primary or secondary education. As I've mentioned
> before - if it aint in the curriculum, it doesn't even get a passing
> consideration. In my experience, in a leading independent Secondary
> School, saving a Word document or Powerpoint presentation on a
> floppy is
> as technical as it gets! I wish someone on this list who's a U.K.
> teacher would pipe up and prove me wrong!
>
> Jim Ford
> _______________________________________________
> Squeakland mailing list
> [hidden email]
> http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland
>
> _______________________________________________
> Squeakland mailing list
> [hidden email]
> http://squeakland.org/mailman/listinfo/squeakland

_______________________________________________
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[hidden email]
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