Yes, those LEGO robots are a really nice thing to get kids into technology. I had one of those and it was quite amazing what you can do with such a pseudo-programming language. This is how you can get kids fascinated by something, they can never let go ;-)
I really have to look, if I can find mine in the attic and see if it is still working. Am 12.09.2010 11:01, schrieb IT-Doc24 Ltd. - Rocco Radisch: > Challenge and motivate by mixing in the fun factor. > Some universities have quite some interesting projects involving > students in real world scenarios to bring their skills to a totally new > level and that with fun stuff. > Ugandans are crazy about football (the fun factor), mix it with IT and > electro engineering and you might create the Ugandan RoboCub > (http://www.robocup.org/). > There is already plenty material in the net. Last month a major software > developer for robotics and AI has released their core technology to the > open source community, http://www.sbwire.com/press-releases/sbwire-53847.htm > If it is lacking on "Hardware" in the beginning most robot platforms > come with a simulator, > http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-robotools/ > Last but not least, there is even open source hardware, > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_robotics > > I watched an interesting docu some years ago how kids (7 years + !!) > were involved in programming with some sort of LEGO robots, with a > simplified interface though. > That is just one idea. > Rocco > > On 11/09/2010 3:15 PM, J.Mwebaze wrote: >> Most of our students do not have the interest to study heard - most >> of them are there to get papers! I have seen >> students complaining about lecturers who involve them a lot and teach >> hard core stuff.. i for one - i was supervising students and they >> requested to change supervision, because i asked for a rather simple >> python implementation.. So even those good and interested students >> miss out! >> >> We need to tackle to problem right away from secondary and every >> primary! Students are rather interested in passing than leaning! >> >> >> >> On Sat, Sep 11, 2010 at 1:58 PM, Emmanuel Mulo >> <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> I believe like many that the problem lies with the instruction. I >> can give you a concrete example. For an entire semester at uni, >> the longest assignment we got for the so called Programming >> methodology course involved writing 20 lines of C code and mostly >> with scanf's and printf's for that matter. I am sure the >> situation is much improved now but if that was the quality of the >> instruction, you couldn't expect such an instructor to challenge >> his/her students to contribute to OSS projects. >> >> >> >> >> On 11/09/2010 10:11, Tim Schofield wrote: >> >> I agree here. I am currently mentoring some Makarere students >> on an >> open source project, and they do lack some very basic skills. >> >> Tim >> >> >> On 11 September 2010 01:18, Wilson Abigaba<[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> On Sat, Sep 11, 2010 at 2:02 AM, Peter C. >> Ndikuwera<[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >> >> Can you estimate how many students were at the event? >> Surely if students >> were involved in OSS development they'd have >> encountered the GSoC? >> >> >> I did submit an application when I was a student (4 years >> ago) but it >> wasn't selected to take part...it could be the case for >> many of the >> students given the fact they haven't been exposed to these >> kinds of >> projects/code etc. >> >> Another simple example, how many students do *serious* >> programming >> projects/courses at University? For BIT/Computer Science, >> MUK, I think >> the number is less than 15 per year. I for one haven't >> seen a final >> year project written in C or C++ or any at least any >> object oriented >> programming/scripting language. To me, this explains how our >> programming skills are still wanting. We still need to >> sharpen our >> skills before we can even contribute to such (FOSS) >> projects and >> graduate to be selected for GSoC. >> >> Regards, >> Wilson >> _______________________________________________ >> LUG mailing list >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >> http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug >> >> LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ >> >> All Archives can be found at >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> >> The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted >> them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is >> not responsible for them in any way. >> >> _______________________________________________ >> LUG mailing list >> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >> http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug >> >> LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ >> >> All Archives can be found at >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> >> The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them >> (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible >> for them in any way. >> --------------------------------------- >> >> >> >> >> -- >> += Johnson >> -------------------------------------- >> Mob UG: +070 1 735800 / 0392 948 368 >> http://www.astro.rug.nl/~jmwebaze <http://www.astro.rug.nl/%7Ejmwebaze> >> skype: mwebazej >> >> >> _______________________________________________ >> LUG mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug >> >> LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ >> >> All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> >> The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including >> attachments if any). 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_______________________________________________ LUG mailing list [email protected] http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug LUG is generously hosted by INFOCOM http://www.infocom.co.ug/ All Archives can be found at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The List's Host is not responsible for them in any way. ---------------------------------------
