[cc += iaep, sugar-devel, quozl]
On Wed, Feb 23, 2011 at 10:43, Nicholas Doiron <ndoi...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote: > > Hi Anish, > > I taught an exploratory Pippy class in Uganda and would be happy to share > feedback on the activity. I also wrote a lesson plan for the Digital > Literacy Project. > > 1. The Ugandan students were 6th-7th graders, and I felt they could handle > the activity because they had learned pre-algebra, and were interested in > the computers. > I also shared a lesson plan with this teacher from Plan Ceibal ( > http://lists.laptop.org/pipermail/olpc-uruguay/2010-September/003472.html > ) > > 2. Any activity using the mesh or Jabber system is difficult and > time-consuming to set up in the classroom. I haven't tested collaboration > with Pippy. > > 3. We all worked on the same example. > > 4. Not only explain code, also help guide students to know some variables > they can modify. As a self-taught programmer, I first learned by changing > variables (for example, speeding up cars in a racing game) and seeing the > results. The Camera.py example was a cool way to start kids doing this, > too. We can change the scale and rotation applied to the photo, or change > the background color, just by changing a few numbers. Right now it takes > a lot more teacher guidance than experimenting... maybe there's a happy > medium. > > There should be simple camera, microphone, and/or text-to-speech examples > to entertain kids and draw them in. Geometry and algebra basics are > covered well in TurtleArt... I don't know how easily they could be > introduced using Pippy. > > 5. It would be great for us to be able to share and download more > examples. Could they be shared using XOL bundles? > > 6. I wrote an example in Spanish which uses espeak text-to-speech, adding > -ves for Spanish pronunciation: http://pastebin.com/1QPk27rd But you > can't avoid most keywords in programming languages being in English. > There have been several discussions about this on StackOverflow: > http://stackoverflow.com/questions/384683/if-you-are-working-in-a-non-english-speaking-country-do-you-write-your-developmen > > > One of the unanticipated challenges which I faced in Uganda was opposition > from another American student volunteer. She said "you're supposed to > teach how to use a computer, not to program them". > I am worried that in education, there are many such people who like > technology but avoid getting their hands dirty. I suggest that you > associate creating programs with creating other content such as > student-made movies, stories, fanfic, and characters. > Considering we went to the trouble of giving schools an open-source > computer, considering that we hope these kids' careers and quality of life > will be improved by smart mobile phones and programs, hiding programming > from them would be incredibly short-sighted and even controlling. Pippy > isn't the easiest activity, but it does give students a direct line to the > underlying tech, and a real-world programming language. > > Regards, > Nick Doiron > > > On Tue, February 22, 2011 11:03 pm, Anish Mangal wrote: >> Hi, >> >> >> As Pippy maintainer, I'm looking for inputs as to how is Pippy >> intended to be used in a classroom environment and how is it currently >> used. In particular: >> >> 1. What grades use Pippy? Could it be used in lower grades with some >> changes? If so, what could be the nature of those changes? >> >> 2. Collaborative code editing? How much is it actually used? What >> could be made better? >> >> 3. Sharing/reviewing of examples by other kids/teachers? >> >> >> 4. Would more explanatory code comments in Pippy examples help? >> >> >> 5. Would having a central repository of having pippy code examples >> help... For example, the ability to download/upload to a url like >> pippy.sugarlabs.org? >> >> 6. Would it help to have the examples in different languages wherever >> possible (spanish, for example)? >> >> Inputs will help guide future releases of Pippy. >> >> >> -- >> Anish >> _______________________________________________ >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) >> i...@lists.sugarlabs.org >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep >> >> >> > > > _______________________________________________ Sugar-devel mailing list Sugar-devel@lists.sugarlabs.org http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/sugar-devel