Brett,
> I encourage you (and everyone) to check out the Jr Summit
> (www.jrsummit.net) run out of MIT (and paid for by Swatch, Sega and
> others). I was at the actual summit part at the media labs this past
> weekend, and it was wonderful. Kids from around the world that met
> online, created proposals for a world they'd like to live in. they
> elected 100+ representatives from their "online nation" (70+ nations
> represented, including handicapped kids) and sent them to MIT for a week
> to hang out with the likes of Disney Imagineers, Alan Kay, John Barlow,
> Seymour Papert, etc. (who they immediately sent away, and then called
> back when they needed advice) Came up with wonderful ideas, and they
> were well presented.
This sounds a whole lot like a project I helped with in late
1995, though at that time I was helping as part of the Envirolink
Network (www.envirolink.org - they took a pretty holistic view of
"environment" and donated 'net services & resources to just about
anything like this; I was just doing grunt HTML volunteer work and a
little CGI scripting).
If I recall correctly, what we were doing was more of a support
site for the project (i.e. trying very carefully to stay out of the
kids' way and not turn it into a little-league-baseball situation).
Er, sorta like you say below, now that I bother to read that far :-)
> Anyway, the idea to bring away from it is this: instead of building a
> resource for kids, build a resource that helps to encourage kids to
> build resources for themselves (and their siblings). They know enough
> about this stuff to take on the challenge themselves, they just need
> leverage and advisors :)
I definitely agree here; the best way to teach kids is not to
lead, but to point, and then be there to provide support *when they
ask for it*. And then only enough to get them going again.
I wonder if it's the same project; the stuff I originally did is
probably long gone, but it'd be nice to know that something I helped
out a little with is doing so well and achieving what they set out to
do. What sounds particularly familiar about it is the "summit" part
and the concept of having the kids elect representatives to meet.
Steven J. Owens
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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