Appended: a cut 'n paste from Math Forum, fixing one typo. Posted here cuz of the reference to South Africa, home of kusasa.org and the Shuttleworth pipeline (Logo -> Squeak -> Python). On the Logo -> Squeak front, I'm seeing a lot of activity in robotics, making a Squeak front end for controlling robodogs, other kid friendly cuties, e.g.: http://www.bioloid.info/tiki/tiki-index.php?page=MicroRaptor That's good, cuz the Logo and GvR type IDEs, involving controlling an avatar, need to blend towards Immersion Phase (Squeak, Sims, ActiveWorlds...). In the meantime, the Kay Group is thinking to reinvent the wheel and implement the whole show in like just 20K lines of code, intended for pedagogical purposes (not just pie in the sky). http://irbseminars.intel-research.net/AlanKayNSF.pdf More power to 'em, though of course OLPC isn't waiting for that project to finish (I doubt Kay would want it to -- kids need Net access today -- tomorrow is not soon enough). And besides, we already have Python. Kirby Onward: ==========
Part two: how are they going to do it? Can you you give us a hint as to how the choices will be presented, under your scenario, and how the children will choose?
Haim Je me souviens
Just to butt in, but why not use the present tense? Why all this future tense nonsense? MPG was saying the Net is one promising way we're offering choice (remember choice?), and I'm agreeing, saying our students are choosing even now, even today, to read this and not that, to study this and not that (life is short and you've got to prioritize). Take, for example, the Freedom Toasters now spread across 16 cities in South Africa: brightly colored kiosks where you stick in your blank DVD or CD and then choose from a menu what to burn (LinuxUser & Developer #68, pg. 61). There's choice involved, especially if you just have the one blank CD (can't just grab everything). The canard I'm tired of hearing is that we have to wait for some big wheels to turn, in New York or Detroit or someplace, before choice becomes a reality. At least in *some* regions of the country, we *already* have choice and yes, kids are doing much of the choosing. http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=1534429&tstart=15 Kirby