Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Fwd: [OLPC-SF] OLPC SF 2011 Community Summit - Poster contest

[Sameer Verma]

On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 2:59 PM, Kevin Mark  wrote:
> On Mon, Oct 03, 2011 at 11:11:40AM -0700, Cherry Withers wrote:
>>
>> Rules:
>>
>>   • Posters will be 13  x 19  inches in size.
>>   • Only 1 entry per project.
>>   • All artwork and lettering must be original. Copyrighted images are not
>>     allowed.
>>   • Entries must be submitted electronically in by 9:00 AM Wednesday morning
>>     Pacific Time, October 19th, 2011. Submit entries to:
>>     poster-submiss...@green-wifi.org
>>   • Posters will be also posted to the OLPC SF website during the summit.
>
> The point "Copyrighted images are not allowed" does not quite seem useful.
> Every image has an author and that person (at least in the US) get a copyright
> on anything they produce. There are images that an individual might own the
> copyright to and images they dont. As well as images that you can use in
> accordance with the license requirements: CC, GPL, PD. So I think that needs a
> bit of revision.
>
> --
> |  .''`.  == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..|
> | : :' :     The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.|
> | `. `'   http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]|
> |___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._|
>
> A Linux machine! because a 486 is a terrible thing to waste!
> (By j...@wintermute.ucr.edu, Joe Sloan)
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

I agree. I think what Bruce intended is that the images shouldn't be
restricted for redistribution, although I'll let him confirm. How
would you word it?

Sameer
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Re: [IAEP] [support-gang] Fwd: [OLPC-SF] OLPC SF 2011 Community Summit - Poster contest

[Kevin Mark]

On Mon, Oct 03, 2011 at 11:11:40AM -0700, Cherry Withers wrote:
> 
> Rules:
> 
>   • Posters will be 13  x 19  inches in size.
>   • Only 1 entry per project.
>   • All artwork and lettering must be original. Copyrighted images are not
> allowed.
>   • Entries must be submitted electronically in by 9:00 AM Wednesday morning
> Pacific Time, October 19th, 2011. Submit entries to:
> poster-submiss...@green-wifi.org
>   • Posters will be also posted to the OLPC SF website during the summit.

The point "Copyrighted images are not allowed" does not quite seem useful.
Every image has an author and that person (at least in the US) get a copyright
on anything they produce. There are images that an individual might own the
copyright to and images they dont. As well as images that you can use in
accordance with the license requirements: CC, GPL, PD. So I think that needs a
bit of revision. 

-- 
|  .''`.  == Debian GNU/Linux ==.| http://kevix.myopenid.com..|
| : :' : The Universal OS| mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/.|
| `. `'   http://www.debian.org/.| http://counter.li.org [#238656]|
|___`-Unless I ask to be CCd,.assume I am subscribed._|

A Linux machine! because a 486 is a terrible thing to waste!
(By j...@wintermute.ucr.edu, Joe Sloan)
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Re: [IAEP] OLPC computers spotted on a photo from 2015

[Christoph Derndorfer]

On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 8:39 PM, Gary Martin wrote:

> Hi Christoph,


Hi Gary,


> On 3 Oct 2011, at 15:54, Christoph Derndorfer wrote:
>
> > If I'm not mistaken they're simply running the Scratch activity - which
> visually hasn't been adapted to Sugar so far.
>
> If I understand their design decisions, I think 'so far' is hoping too much
> for a closer UI fit with other Sugar activities. Their goal is that it
> should look as identical as possible on all supported platforms, making it a
> standard 'a platform' in its own right.


Thanks a lot for the clarification, that certainly makes sense. I had simply
never considered this angle as 99% of my (still quite limited) exposure to
Scratch have been on the XO:-D

Though admittedly I do have to wonder whether they'll re-consider this
decision as the current UI doesn't lend itself to touch input IMHO and it
seems like tablets are increasingly popular in the user populations Scratch
targets. Or what are your impressions of using it on your touchscreen
developer unit?

It does at least now offer the support of saving to the Journal (thanks
> Bert). You still have to go through their save dialogue, select the
> 'Journal' and type a file name, but it at least remembers all that if you
> resume a project previously saved to the Journal.
>
> Reminds me... I must try sending those new Scratch Journal entries to a
> friend and see if it transfers OK between machines (should be fine as long
> as the correct MIME details have been set).
>

Good point, please let us know how this experiment goes!

Thanks again,
Christoph


> Regards,
> --Gary
>
> > Cheers,
> > Christoph
> >
> > Am 03.10.2011 16:45, schrieb James Simmons:
> >> The computers don't seem to be running Sugar, though.
> >>
> >> James Simmons
> >>
> >> On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 7:02 PM, Maria Droujkova 
> >>  droujk...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> >>
> >>http://www.futuretimeline.net/21stcentury/2015.htm
> >>
> >>
> >>Cheers,
> >>Maria Droujkova
> >>919-388-1721 
> >>
> >>Make math your own, to make your own math
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>___
> >>IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> >>IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org 
> >>http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ___
> >> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> >> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> >> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> >
> > --
> > Christoph Derndorfer
> >
> > editor, OLPC News [www.olpcnews.com]
> > volunteer, OLPC (Austria) [www.olpc.at]
> >
> > e-mail: christ...@derndorfer.eu
> >
> > ___
> > IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> > IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> > http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
>


-- 
Christoph Derndorfer

editor, OLPC News [www.olpcnews.com]
volunteer, OLPC (Austria) [www.olpc.at]

e-mail: christ...@derndorfer.eu
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Re: [IAEP] How can we help kids get into the habits of looking for all possible causes and counter examples to problems?

[Walter Bender]

On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 3:04 PM, Gary Martin  wrote:
>
> On 3 Oct 2011, at 18:35, Frederick Grose wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 12:58 AM,  wrote:
>> >On 02/10/2011 09:07 a.m., Maria Droujkova wrote:
>> >...I have never had to do anything with REASONS for seasons or phases of 
>> >the moon, outside of curriculum design. Have you?
>> ---
>>
>> One reason to think about  phases of the moon on our normal life is the fact 
>> that people on the north hemisphere see the moon "upsidedown".  Or the 
>> opposite: people on the southern hemisphere see the moon "upsidedown".
>>
>> We can use that knowledge on our normal life: On the calendar we can see the 
>> icons of phases of the mooon, but those icons were designed by northern 
>> people, with  the crescent moon like a "D" and the Waning Moon like a "C", 
>> but in the southern hemisphere is the opposite, crescent moon is a "C" and 
>> waning moon is a "D". (the people that designs calendar on the south repeat 
>> like parrots the things that northern people designs, so they draw the moon 
>> in the opposite way)
>>
>> In northern hemisphere the mooon is liar, because she is a "C" when she is 
>> "de-crescent", and she is a "D" when she is Crescent, but here on the south 
>> the moon tell us the truth.
>>
>> -
>>
>> For example: a child in Uruguay could take a picture of the moon and send to 
>> a child in Canada,  the same day, so they can compare that fact. and  maybe 
>> another child on the equator  can send another picture that shows the moon 
>> on the middle, like an "U".
>>
>> This suggests that in Gary Martin's Moon activity,
>> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/Moon
>> http://activities.sugarlabs.org/sugar/addon/4034
>>
>> the hemisphere toggle control should instead control rotation of the view 
>> between the north and south extremes.
>>
>> That might help you if you wake up in a strange land and need clues to  your 
>> location.
>
> Thanks for the feedback, unfortunately it requires 1) correct local time, 2) 
> reasonably accurate longitude and latitude position, and some rather complex 
> maths for calculating/using the positions of the Sun, Moon, Earth and your 
> position on it – I have some of this math/code but it is not so accurate, 
> current data in Moon is generated from 1min accurate public data tables 
> provided by NASA (including Luna eclipses and Solar eclipses).
>
> Any one know of some python based Open Source compatible source that is 
> available? When I've previously dug about for an existing solution, I've 
> usually ended up discovering things based on property blobs we could not 
> legally ship/publish.

Well, one simple assumption could be based on the language code: e.g.,
if someone is using es_UY, you could assume they are in the southern
hemisphere by default and start with the appropriate hemisphere state?

-walter

>
> Regards,
> --Gary
>
>>
>> {...}
>> ___
>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>



-- 
Walter Bender
Sugar Labs
http://www.sugarlabs.org
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Re: [IAEP] How can we help kids get into the habits of looking for all possible causes and counter examples to problems?

[Gary Martin]

On 3 Oct 2011, at 18:35, Frederick Grose wrote:

> On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 12:58 AM,  wrote:
> >On 02/10/2011 09:07 a.m., Maria Droujkova wrote:
> >...I have never had to do anything with REASONS for seasons or phases of the 
> >moon, outside of curriculum design. Have you?
> ---
> 
> One reason to think about  phases of the moon on our normal life is the fact 
> that people on the north hemisphere see the moon "upsidedown".  Or the 
> opposite: people on the southern hemisphere see the moon "upsidedown".
> 
> We can use that knowledge on our normal life: On the calendar we can see the 
> icons of phases of the mooon, but those icons were designed by northern 
> people, with  the crescent moon like a "D" and the Waning Moon like a "C", 
> but in the southern hemisphere is the opposite, crescent moon is a "C" and 
> waning moon is a "D". (the people that designs calendar on the south repeat 
> like parrots the things that northern people designs, so they draw the moon 
> in the opposite way)
> 
> In northern hemisphere the mooon is liar, because she is a "C" when she is 
> "de-crescent", and she is a "D" when she is Crescent, but here on the south 
> the moon tell us the truth.
> 
> -
> 
> For example: a child in Uruguay could take a picture of the moon and send to 
> a child in Canada,  the same day, so they can compare that fact. and  maybe 
> another child on the equator  can send another picture that shows the moon on 
> the middle, like an "U".
> 
> This suggests that in Gary Martin's Moon activity,
> http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/Moon
> http://activities.sugarlabs.org/sugar/addon/4034
> 
> the hemisphere toggle control should instead control rotation of the view 
> between the north and south extremes.
> 
> That might help you if you wake up in a strange land and need clues to  your 
> location.

Thanks for the feedback, unfortunately it requires 1) correct local time, 2) 
reasonably accurate longitude and latitude position, and some rather complex 
maths for calculating/using the positions of the Sun, Moon, Earth and your 
position on it – I have some of this math/code but it is not so accurate, 
current data in Moon is generated from 1min accurate public data tables 
provided by NASA (including Luna eclipses and Solar eclipses).

Any one know of some python based Open Source compatible source that is 
available? When I've previously dug about for an existing solution, I've 
usually ended up discovering things based on property blobs we could not 
legally ship/publish.

Regards,
--Gary

> 
> {...}
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

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Re: [IAEP] OLPC computers spotted on a photo from 2015

[Gary Martin]

Hi Christoph,

On 3 Oct 2011, at 15:54, Christoph Derndorfer wrote:

> If I'm not mistaken they're simply running the Scratch activity - which 
> visually hasn't been adapted to Sugar so far.

If I understand their design decisions, I think 'so far' is hoping too much for 
a closer UI fit with other Sugar activities. Their goal is that it should look 
as identical as possible on all supported platforms, making it a standard 'a 
platform' in its own right. It does at least now offer the support of saving to 
the Journal (thanks Bert). You still have to go through their save dialogue, 
select the 'Journal' and type a file name, but it at least remembers all that 
if you resume a project previously saved to the Journal.

Reminds me... I must try sending those new Scratch Journal entries to a friend 
and see if it transfers OK between machines (should be fine as long as the 
correct MIME details have been set).

Regards,
--Gary

> Cheers,
> Christoph
> 
> Am 03.10.2011 16:45, schrieb James Simmons:
>> The computers don't seem to be running Sugar, though.
>> 
>> James Simmons
>> 
>> On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 7:02 PM, Maria Droujkova > > wrote:
>> 
>>http://www.futuretimeline.net/21stcentury/2015.htm
>> 
>> 
>>Cheers,
>>Maria Droujkova
>>919-388-1721 
>> 
>>Make math your own, to make your own math
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>___
>>IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>>IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org 
>>http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ___
>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
> 
> -- 
> Christoph Derndorfer
> 
> editor, OLPC News [www.olpcnews.com]
> volunteer, OLPC (Austria) [www.olpc.at]
> 
> e-mail: christ...@derndorfer.eu
> 
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep

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[IAEP] Fwd: [OLPC-SF] OLPC SF 2011 Community Summit - Poster contest

[Cherry Withers]

-- Forwarded message --
From: "Bruce Baikie" 
Date: Oct 3, 2011 11:10 AM
Subject: [OLPC-SF] OLPC SF 2011 Community Summit - Poster contest
To: "OLPC SF" , 


OLPC SF 2011 Community Summit - Poster contest  Submit your posters!

The project poster contest is a new feature of the 2011 OLPC SF Community
Summit!

The posters are a simple size of 13" X 19", and completing the poster would
be an excellent way to share your project and where help is needed. Your
poster can win a nice prize and certificates will also be awarded.

Simply submit your project poster electronically before the summit and we
will have them professionally printed and mounted on foam board. You are
welcome to keep your mounted poster after the event.

Submitted posters will displayed in the hallway during the summit and when
people are networking outside the conference rooms and during breaks, they
can read about your project, your challenges, successes, and where you could
use help. Your poster can cover your whole project or one specific area like
content, training, infrastructure (power, connectivity, etc), and school
server.

Winners will be announced during the Sunday luncheon period.

Rules:

   - Posters will be 13” x 19” inches in size.
   - Only 1 entry per project.
   - All artwork and lettering must be original. Copyrighted images are not
   allowed.
   - Entries must be submitted electronically in by 9:00 AM Wednesday
   morning Pacific Time, October 19th, 2011. Submit entries to:
   
poster-submiss...@green-wifi.org
   - Posters will be also posted to the OLPC SF website during the summit.

We recommend you use PowerPoint, OpenOffice, or even better an open source
tool like inkscape. (http://inkscape.org/download/)

Helpful sites on making a poster:

   - http://openwetware.org/wiki/Making_scientific_posters
   - http://ipro.iit.edu/students/deliverables/poster
   - http://colinpurrington.com/tips/academic/posterdesign
   -
   http://www.huttenhower.org/content/welcome-and-creating-scientific-poster

If you need a template for inkscape or OpenOffice, email a request to
poster-submiss...@green-wifi.org

http://olpcsf.org/CommunitySummit2011/poster


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Re: [IAEP] How can we help kids get into the habits of looking for all possible causes and counter examples to problems?

[Frederick Grose]

On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 12:58 AM,  wrote:

>  *>On 02/10/2011 09:07 a.m., Maria Droujkova wrote:
> >...I have never had to do anything with REASONS for seasons or phases of
> the moon, outside of curriculum design. Have you?*
>
> ---
>
> One reason to think about  phases of the moon on our normal life is the
> fact that people on the north hemisphere see the moon "upsidedown".  Or the
> opposite: people on the southern hemisphere see the moon "upsidedown".
>
> We can use that knowledge on our normal life: On the calendar we can see
> the icons of phases of the mooon, but those icons were designed by northern
> people, with  the crescent moon like a "D" and the Waning Moon like a "C",
> but in the southern hemisphere is the opposite, crescent moon is a "C" and
> waning moon is a "D". (the people that designs calendar on the south repeat
> like parrots the things that northern people designs, so they draw the moon
> in the opposite way)
>
> In northern hemisphere the mooon is liar, because she is a "C" when she is
> "de-crescent", and she is a "D" when she is Crescent, but here on the south
> the moon tell us the truth.
>
> -
>
> For example: a child in Uruguay could take a picture of the moon and send
> to a child in Canada,  the same day, so they can compare that fact. and
> maybe another child on the equator  can send another picture that shows the
> moon on the middle, like an "U".
>

This suggests that in Gary Martin's Moon activity,
http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Activities/Moon
http://activities.sugarlabs.org/sugar/addon/4034

the hemisphere toggle control should instead control rotation of the view
between the north and south extremes.

That might help you if you wake up in a strange land and need clues to  your
location.

{...}
>
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Re: [IAEP] OLPC computers spotted on a photo from 2015

[James Simmons]

Christoph,

That's good to know.  In the years I've had my XO I've mostly used it for
reading e-books.  There's a whole world of Activities I've never tried.

James Simmons

On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 9:54 AM, Christoph Derndorfer <
christoph.derndor...@gmail.com> wrote:

> If I'm not mistaken they're simply running the Scratch activity - which
> visually hasn't been adapted to Sugar so far.
>
> Cheers,
> Christoph
>
> Am 03.10.2011 16:45, schrieb James Simmons:
>
>> The computers don't seem to be running Sugar, though.
>>
>> James Simmons
>>
>> On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 7:02 PM, Maria Droujkova > droujk...@gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>>
>> http://www.futuretimeline.net/**21stcentury/2015.htm
>>
>>
>>Cheers,
>>Maria Droujkova
>>919-388-1721 
>>
>>
>>Make math your own, to make your own math
>>
>>
>>
>>__**_
>>IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>>IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org 
>> > >
>>
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/**listinfo/iaep
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> __**_
>> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
>> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
>> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/**listinfo/iaep
>>
>
> --
> Christoph Derndorfer
>
> editor, OLPC News [www.olpcnews.com]
> volunteer, OLPC (Austria) [www.olpc.at]
>
> e-mail: christ...@derndorfer.eu
>
>
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Re: [IAEP] OLPC computers spotted on a photo from 2015

[Christoph Derndorfer]

If I'm not mistaken they're simply running the Scratch activity - which 
visually hasn't been adapted to Sugar so far.


Cheers,
Christoph

Am 03.10.2011 16:45, schrieb James Simmons:

The computers don't seem to be running Sugar, though.

James Simmons

On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 7:02 PM, Maria Droujkova > wrote:


http://www.futuretimeline.net/21stcentury/2015.htm


Cheers,
Maria Droujkova
919-388-1721 

Make math your own, to make your own math



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--
Christoph Derndorfer

editor, OLPC News [www.olpcnews.com]
volunteer, OLPC (Austria) [www.olpc.at]

e-mail: christ...@derndorfer.eu

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Re: [IAEP] OLPC computers spotted on a photo from 2015

[James Simmons]

The computers don't seem to be running Sugar, though.

James Simmons

On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 7:02 PM, Maria Droujkova  wrote:

> http://www.futuretimeline.net/21stcentury/2015.htm
>
> [image: 2015 laptop technology future timeline millenium development goals
> africa developing world]
>
> Cheers,
> Maria Droujkova
> 919-388-1721
>
> Make math your own, to make your own math
>
>
>
> ___
> IAEP -- It's An Education Project (not a laptop project!)
> IAEP@lists.sugarlabs.org
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep
>
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Re: [IAEP] How can we help kids get into the habits of looking for all possible causes and counter examples to problems?

[Maria Droujkova]

On Mon, Oct 3, 2011 at 12:58 AM,  wrote:

>  *>On 02/10/2011 09:07 a.m., Maria Droujkova wrote:
> >...I have never had to do anything with REASONS for seasons or phases of
> the moon, outside of curriculum design. Have you?*
>
> ---
>
> One reason to think about  phases of the moon on our normal life is the
> fact that people on the north hemisphere see the moon "upsidedown".  Or the
> opposite: people on the southern hemisphere see the moon "upsidedown".
>
> We can use that knowledge on our normal life: On the calendar we can see
> the icons of phases of the mooon, but those icons were designed by northern
> people, with  the crescent moon like a "D" and the Waning Moon like a "C",
> but in the southern hemisphere is the opposite, crescent moon is a "C" and
> waning moon is a "D". (the people that designs calendar on the south repeat
> like parrots the things that northern people designs, so they draw the moon
> in the opposite way)
>
> In northern hemisphere the mooon is liar, because she is a "C" when she is
> "de-crescent", and she is a "D" when she is Crescent, but here on the south
> the moon tell us the truth.
>

First of all, I did not even know this fact, let alone finding use for it.

Second, why do we need to know REASONS for this fact, other than idle
curiosity?

I am playing devil's advocate here. I am a curious person myself, and I
think pure intellectual play is a valuable thing. But it does not answer the
question about the NEED to know REASONS behind moon phases. So, they work
differently in different hemispheres. Duly noted... why do we need to know
WHY?


> -
>
> For example: a child in Uruguay could take a picture of the moon and send
> to a child in Canada,  the same day, so they can compare that fact. and
> maybe another child on the equator  can send another picture that shows the
> moon on the middle, like an "U".
>
> That is an exercise that children have to think, not only repeating
> something like parrots , things that they hear from the teacher.
>
> ---
> *
> Another fact about seasons and our normal life:*  if you are on the same
> longitude, you don't have the sunset at the same time, ¿why is that
>

And why are you asking?

(Again, this is a curriculum design prompt; I am not questioning your
motives here).

>
> ANd more interesting: on some dates of the year the sunset is on the same
> hour, but not all the year... ¿why?
> There are only two days on the year that this happens.
>
> For example, the longitude of boston is almost  the same as Chile, and now
> the sunset on both places are almost at the same time, children can control
> that sending them an e-mail, o chatting.
>
> That is because it began  the spring on the south and fall on the north.
> If you make the same experiment on Christmas, the sunset on Boston is 2
> hours before that the sunset in Chile ¿why is that?
> If a child on BOston chat whit a child on Chile, the child on chile have
> the sunset, but the child on boston had the sunset 2 hours ago.
>
> the answer is the same as the answer about the season
>

Whoa, is this obvious from the above experiments? I don't think so. I don't
think seasons come into them at all, actually.


> : the tilt of the earth.
>
> That kind of experiment was theoretical some years ago, but now it's a
> normal thing with the internet and the XOs.
>
> That fact is very clear if you see it on Google earth, with the sun turned
> "on", and you look the earth thousands of Km away, like a satellite. If you
> move the timeline you can see it very clearly.
>

These are cool activities, but do they pose or answer any WHY questions? Do
kids NEED to know WHY in order to successfully finish the activities? I
think these activities are just prep for other, "why- related" activities we
still need to design!

>
>
>
> Paolo Benini
> Montevideo
>
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Re: [IAEP] How can we help kids get into the habits of looking for all possible causes and counter examples to problems?

[Maria Droujkova]

On Sun, Oct 2, 2011 at 5:59 PM,  wrote:

> Maria wrote:
> > Looking back at my life, I have never had to do anything with REASONS for
> > seasons or phases of the moon, outside of curriculum design. Have you?
>
> No, I doubt that > 0.001% of us have any reason to understand these things.
>
> The reason to teach about these things is that in practicing developing and
> testing hypotheses, it builds up our skills to understand other systems. So
> this kind of material should not be rote learned, it should be investigated.
>
> As Maria suggests, it might be even better practicing hypothesis testing on
> systems more relevant to us. The seasons probably made more sense a century
> ago as a system on which to practice understanding. We were much more
> affected by the seasons then and lived in a far simpler world. Today, maybe
> we should practice understanding on the internet or television or whether
> the moon landing was an elaborate hoax on a sound stage.
>

The point I am making: learning tasks, and learning questions, should have
some built-in means for students testing reasonableness of their hypotheses.
For example, students may plan settling Mars and investigate the role of
eccentricity in seasons there and on Earth.

The question, "Why are there seasons?" should be answered with, "Why do you
need to know?" - which allows students to investigate the matter in some
context, for themselves, and check their answers for REASONable-ness within
that context.

>
> The challenge for teachers is to share our love of understanding things,
> not so much a love of learning but a love of understanding. The joy of
> building robust hypotheses of how things work.
>

Tony, the pure joy of building robust hypotheses of how things work, just to
understand, is mostly a male thing. The joy of figuring out reasons why
things work, so as to make sense of personally and socially relevant
contexts, is mostly a female thing. I call for balance, and for
accommodations to students who prefer one over the other.

>
> PS
> Another challenge: why is it colder in the mountains?
>
> Tony


Can you pose this as a contextualized challenge? Where understanding WHY is
relevant and important to know?

Cheers,
Maria Droujkova
919-388-1721

Make math your own, to make your own math
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Re: [IAEP] How can we help kids get into the habits of looking for all possible causes and counter examples to problems?

[Carlos Rabassa]

English translation follows Spanish text

Excelente mensaje Paolo: siempre recuerdo que en mi infancia en Uruguay me 
explicaban que la luna crece cuando tiene forma de "C" y decrece cuando tiene 
forma de "D".

Deseo agregar un punto a tu mensaje:

Hay un porcentaje considerable de uruguayos que tenemos familiares y amigos 
viviendo en el extranjero. 

No sé si ya se está haciendo,  pero pienso que en muchas aulas sería posible 
realizar experimentos como el que describes de que un niño tome una foto de la 
luna y la envíe por correo electrónico a otro niño en el hemisferio norte. 

El niño lejos de Uruguay no tiene por qué ser necesariamente un familiar o un 
amigo.  Podrían ser familiares de los muchos visitantes que recibimos en 
Uruguay.  Podrían ser grupos que ya han demostrado interés en corresponder con 
niños de otros países.  

Tal vez algunos recuerdan a Randy Caton;  muchos uruguayos lo conocieron en 
ocasión de Squeakfest 2011 en Mayo último.  Randy trabaja como voluntario con 
los niños de una reservación indígena en EEUU que desean comunicarse con niños 
en lugares lejanos.  

En Alemania está Radio JoJo que pone en contacto a los niños de Berlín con los 
del resto del mundo.

Hay escuelas para niños uruguayos en varios lugares del mundo.

English translation:

Excellent message Paolo;  I always remember,  from my childhood in Uruguay,  
being told the moon is growing in size when it has the shape of a "C", as in 
"crecer" or "to grow" and reducing its size when it looks like a "D" as in 
"decrecer".

I want to add one point to your message:

There is a considerable percentage of uruguayans who have family members or 
friends leaving overseas.

I don´t know if they are already doing it but I believe in many schoolrooms it 
would be possible to perform experiments like the one you describe of one kid 
taking a picture of the moon and emailing it to another kid in the northern 
hemisphere.

The child far from Uruguay doesn´t necessarily have to be a relative or a 
friend.  They could be the relatives of the many visitors we receive in 
Uruguay.  They could be groups who have already shown their interest in 
corresponding with children overseas.

Maybe some of you remember Randy Caton:  many uruguayans met him at Squeakfest 
2011 last May.   Randy works as a volunteer with the children in an indian 
reservation in the U.S.A. who want to communicate with far away children.

Radio JoJo in Germany puts Berlin children in touch with children all over the 
world.

There are schools for uruguayan children in several locations around the world.


Carlos Rabassa
Voluntario
Red de Apoyo al Plan Ceibal
Montevideo, Uruguay





On Oct 3, 2011, at 2:58 AM, nanon...@mediagala.com wrote:

> >On 02/10/2011 09:07 a.m., Maria Droujkova wrote:
> >...I have never had to do anything with REASONS for seasons or phases of the 
> >moon, outside of curriculum design. Have you?
> ---
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> One reason to think about  phases of the moon on our normal life is the fact 
> that people on the north hemisphere see the moon "upsidedown".  Or the 
> opposite: people on the southern hemisphere see the moon "upsidedown".
> 
> We can use that knowledge on our normal life: On the calendar we can see the 
> icons of phases of the mooon, but those icons were designed by northern 
> people, with  the crescent moon like a "D" and the Waning Moon like a "C", 
> but in the southern hemisphere is the opposite, crescent moon is a "C" and 
> waning moon is a "D". (the people that designs calendar on the south repeat 
> like parrots the things that northern people designs, so they draw the moon 
> in the opposite way)
> 
> In northern hemisphere the mooon is liar, because she is a "C" when she is 
> "de-crescent", and she is a "D" when she is Crescent, but here on the south 
> the moon tell us the truth.
> 
> -
> 
> For example: a child in Uruguay could take a picture of the moon and send to 
> a child in Canada,  the same day, so they can compare that fact. and  maybe 
> another child on the equator  can send another picture that shows the moon on 
> the middle, like an "U".
> 
> That is an exercise that children have to think, not only repeating something 
> like parrots , things that they hear from the teacher.
> 
> ---
> 
> Another fact about seasons and our normal life:  if you are on the same 
> longitude, you don't have the sunset at the same time, ¿why is that
> 
> ANd more interesting: on some dates of the year the sunset is on the same 
> hour, but not all the year... ¿why?
> There are only two days on the year that this happens.
> 
> For example, the longitude of boston is almost  the same as Chile, and now 
> the sunset on both places are almost at the same time, children can control 
> that sending them an e-mail, o chatting.
> 
> That is because it