Dear Claus Reinke, To be honest, I think that before talking to little child about petri-nets (or another mathematical model) the focus must be people a little bit older...
A known fact: there is a lot of people, in universities, that don't understand and isn't interested on this subject... And I surely agree with the fact that it would help improve critical thinking at this level too :-) ... Things which can help to generalise the interest and use of this kind of subject: 1. A forum, like you said. Note that a forum and a mailing list isn't the same thing! As an example, this list is usually used to publish events and related news... a forum is a place to discuss and learn... And I garantee you that if a forum doesn't attract teachers it will surely attract students... 2. Online interactive tools to help understanding concepts; 3. Challenges and Contests, with apropriate material to self-development; 4. Good e-learning classes, with good pratical examples; 5. Games, where players must know what they are doing (using the theory). Best Regards, Paula Mangas On Wed, Nov 26, 2008 at 2:53 PM, Claus Reinke <[email protected]>wrote: > Nearly two weeks ago, I asked for references to usability studies of > Petri nets for school-aged children, or any other Petri nets in school > (pre-university schools, that is) related works: > > > http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/cgi-bin/TGI/pnml/getpost?id=2008/11/4406 > > The very small number of replies seems to confirm that this is a largely > uncovered area of education research, although alternative explanations > are possible. > > Even assuming that this list still reaches a large part of the Petri net > research community, and that Petri nets are apparently used in some > schools, it appears that school teachers have their own online communities, > entirely separate from this list (is there any information on the range of > interests covered by list subscribers here?). Also, they might lack the > time/inclination/encouragement/support to publish their findings, or might > record their experiences in local language only, without wider > distribution. > > Researchers, on the other hand, might lack the contacts to local schools, > or find it difficult to imagine that their children, long advanced from > simple board games to multiplayer online dungeons, could be at all > interested in something as simple as Petri nets? I would hope not, > given work on team planning for robot agents, or game story plot > modelling, among others!-) > > I would be interested in other explanations, but for now, it seems that > there is either an unexpected hole in Petri nets research, or an > unfortunate > disconnect between research and education practitioners in this area. > > Please note also that my search was limited to online resources, > as local university libraries in England tend to be unhelpful on the > subject of Petri nets (thinking back to the shelves of Petri net > publications in German libraries, a search in one of them might turn > up relevant older references). > > Perhaps the topic could be emphasized in future events, and the > "Education with Petri Nets" section on the Petri Nets World could > be generalized from academia towards including schools (an unambigous > standard keyword for publications relating to this subject would also help, > as the ambiguity resulting from overloaded terms currently makes successful > search near impossible). > > I'm not sure whether a Petri net education specific forum would attract > teachers more than this list, given that nets can only be one of very many > topics on their busy schedule. But a wiki dedicated to this subject, as > part > of the Petri Nets World, would allow them to share tools, experiences, > best practice in a central place, more visible to the general Petri nets > community (contacts with other groups of school children working > on the same subject, or with researchers willing to offer teacher support, > tool expertise, and inspirational encounters with real-life applications > might also be popular). > > Thanks to all who have replied! > Claus > > >
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