On Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 3:10 PM, Bryan Berry <[email protected]> wrote: > On Fri, 2009-01-02 at 14:54 -0500, Wade Brainerd wrote: > > I don't understand the construing of constructionism with "exclusively >> high-level math and science" and I don't quite what you mean >> by >> "foundational skills". I don't think anyone would argue that >> we don't >> want numeracy and literacy to be "low shelf" tools in every >> child's >> repertoire, but what does this have to do with the other >> topics in >> this thread? >> >> I read this as saying that the constructivist activities that have >> been developed *so far* by programmers in developed countries tend to >> focus on high level concept learning rather than foundational skills. >> And I agree with this statement. >> I'm currently working on Typing Turtle, a typing trainer for the XO. >> One could say "they have Write and Chat, they will learn how to type" >> - that would be a constructivist approach. I feel like there is a >> need for more focused training of fundamental 'low shelf' skills, >> that's why I'm working on that particular activity. > > The Typing Turtle will be immensely useful and immensely popular in > Nepal. A typing tutor is one of the most frequently requested programs > by the Nepali kids and teachers alike. Thanks alot to Wade for working > on it. > > While no one is arguing that basic literacy and numeracy are less > important, there are far fewer activities addressing them. Most focus on > higher-level skills. Sometimes I feel there is an attitude that kids > will "just learn" counting or reading by using Etoys or another program. > I don't believe that will happen for a lot of kids. > > Also, too often we focus on empowering the smart kids in the class. This > project is about mass education. Helping the vast majority of kids is > the real point, not just the superlative ones. > > Case in point, some of the sharper kids at Bishwamitra school think a > lot of the E-Paath math activities are lame and boring. The academically > weaker kids love them and do them over and over until they master them. > These are 6th graders who until recently couldn't count properly. Those > students initially had trouble w/ some of our math problems for grade > 2. > > Some kids may learn basic math and reading so they can go straight to > using TurtleArt. They may hate simple math and language lessons. A lot > of kids won't be able to go straight TurtleArt. We need to think about > them as well. > > > -- > Bryan W. Berry > Technology Director > OLE Nepal, http://www.olenepal.org > >
I think we have consensus on three issues: (1) We should try to support better integration of more development environments into Sugar (e.g., cookbook Flash and Javascript support of the Journal); (2) We should encourage Activity developers (regardless of their choice of development environment) to avoid extensive use of drag-and-drop (I'll try to eat my own dogfood with TurtleArt); (3) We need lots more Activities. -walter -- Walter Bender Sugar Labs http://www.sugarlabs.org _______________________________________________ IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!) [email protected] http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
