[Edu-sig] OLPC (was FYI: PataPata postmortem link)

[Arthur]

Winston Wolff wrote:

>
> On Nov 29, 2006, at 10:41 AM, Arthur wrote:
>
>> Over the years, what I have discovered about "educational software" is
>> that most of it is junk, and the really useful things to connect kids
>> with are the open-ended packages which provide an avenue for their
>> creativity and sense of mastery over aspects of the real or digital
>> world -- so, for example, learning to write with a word processor is
>> much better than playing some silly flash-words game, and using
>> Photoshop or the GIMP is probably much better than using some silly
>> math-blaster game or even the award winning Oregon Trail (which is
>> pretty good as those things go).
>> """
>
>
> I definitely have to agree with Arthur on this point.

Hi Winston -

Nice to hear from someone with whom I would enjoy having lunch, and did ;)

For the record I was simply quoting Paul Fernhout.  Who is a Smalltalker 
(is it OK to say that, Paul?), working in the area of "educational 
software" for a lot longer, and with a lot more technical sophistication 
under his belt than have I.

You can tell it ain't me writing.  He spells well ;)

Art