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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>I think that Al Sweigart’s book “<i>Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python”</i> can be an excellent resource. It is a great way to learn Python in the context of creating games. A link can be found at </span><a href="http://inventwithpython.com/">http://inventwithpython.com/</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Brian Wilkinson<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Sandy Spring Friends School<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Technology Resource Coordinator<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>301-774-7455 x218<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Occam’s Razor – The principal that </span></i><i><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:black;background:white'>simpler explanations are, other things being equal, generally better than more complex ones.</span></i><i><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> edu-sig-bounces+brian.wilkinson=ssfs.org@python.org [mailto:edu-sig-bounces+brian.wilkinson=ssfs.org@python.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Carl Cerecke<br><b>Sent:</b> Monday, May 21, 2012 6:23 PM<br><b>To:</b> Laura Creighton<br><b>Cc:</b> edu-sig@python.org<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [Edu-sig] Teaching python at a Computer Clubhouse<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The kids are 10-18. Yes, I won't group them by birth-date. I started teaching myself programming when I was about 10, on a Commodore-64, from books and magazines. If there's a kid that's as keen as I was at that age, then hopefully they'll be able to progress rapidly. The group will be fairly small, I imagine, so they can all be at different levels and rates without too much problem.<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Thanks for the snake wrangling reference. Forgot about that.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Cheers,<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>Carl.<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On 22 May 2012 09:03, Laura Creighton <<a href="mailto:lac@openend.se" target="_blank">lac@openend.se</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>In a message of Tue, 22 May 2012 08:54:47 +1200, Carl Cerecke writes:<br><br>>I'm thinking of becoming a mentor at a local Computer Clubhouse<br>><a href="http://www.computerclubhouse.org/" target="_blank">http://www.computerclubhouse.org/</a>. In particular, there are some kids the<br>>re<br>>who are quite keen to learn to make their own games, but none of the<br>>current mentors know any programming (one said that he had done some<br>>"programming" in HTML).<br>>I would be grateful for any recommendations for material to help me and t<br>>he<br>>kids. I have plenty of programming experience and some teaching experienc<br>>e<br>>(at the university level, though). I've written some text-only turn-based<br>>games in python before (about the level of connect-4), but nothing with<br>>graphics. The idea is supposed to be that this is driven by the interests<br>>of the children, but I need to balance that with the requirement for a bi<br>>t<br>>of a programming foundation as well if they're going to be successful in<br>>writing the sort of games they're interested in. I also think I need to<br>>make sure their expectations are realistic...<br>>So, any advice/recommendations?<br>><br>>Cheers,<br>>Carl.<o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal>How old are the members of the clubhouse?<br>If at all possible you should let kids group by interest.<br>Date of manufacture (birth date) is a rotten way to sort people and your kids,<br>like everybody else, will be happier if people are sorted by something<br>other than 'birth date'.<br><br>I steal regularly from<br><a href="http://www.briggs.net.nz/snake-wrangling-for-kids.html" target="_blank">http://www.briggs.net.nz/snake-wrangling-for-kids.html</a><br><br>and given that the author is in NZ as well, he might have some insights<br>that are better shared in person.<br><br>best of appreciation for what you are doing,<br>Laura Creighton<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></body></html>