[Edu-sig] Alan Kay - another one of his ideas

[francois schnell]

On 14/07/06, kirby urner <kirby.urner at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I have no idea what a C16 is and don't care to ever know.


Andreas is talking about the early 80's 'personal computers'  before the
computer industry somewhat "changed".

At this time the computers were:

1) Affordable.

Actual my first computer was a 100$ laptop in front of a TV (a Sinclair ZX81
I had the chance to have at 11 when I was in a state of scholar failure...
now my mum says it's the best thing she ever bought....)

2) Designed to learn some 'programming' if you wanted to have some fun.

The first thing you had when you boot was a programming language.
The machines came with the hardware schematics (even without understanding
it, it really stimulated my curiosity).
Magazines were all about Open  Source code and "usual" hardware hacking to
expand your computer (and again even without understanding much, it really
stimulated my curiosity).
Even if they were so imperfect there were already to me "tools to think
with" as describes Papert.

Nowadays computers don't come with schematics, don't come with a programming
manual and you're mainly suppose to be just a "user", just a "consumer".

When I compare personal computer magazines today it doesn't surprise  me
that there's a lack of vocations in CS.

I see a lot of people laugthing at the OLPC (the tiny 100$ laptop project)
but if it is successful,  "developing countries " could well surprise us in
the future maybe because they came "back" a little (in some ways).

"OLPC is based on
constructionist<http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Constructionist>theories of
learning pioneered by Seymour
Papert <http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Seymour_Papert> and later Alan
Kay<http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Alan_Kay>,
as well as the principles expressed in Nicholas Negroponte's book 'Being
Digital'. Some background on our approach can be gleaned from David
Cavallo's essay, "Models for growth—towards fundamental change in learning
environments"<http://www.media.mit.edu/publications/bttj/Paper11Pages96-112.pdf>
"

http://wiki.laptop.org/go/One_Laptop_per_Child
http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/313/

I also seen again a talk Seymor Papert gave in my university in 2003. In the
second part he talks about the shift in the computer industry, he also says
that WWW is wonderful but that eduction by focusing too much  on the
information search and "Powerpoint Presentations" is missing the deepest
potential of these machines for education.

The video is here:
http://www.canalc2.tv/video.asp?idvideo=1868
(Papert spoke in French here but again I advise people to read his book
"Mindstorms: Children, Computers and Powerful Ideas" )

  Not sure what this thread is about any more.


Me neither.

Anyway by reading this high egoboo-list my bet is that relevant pythonic
post-squeak/Logo environments, with a critical mass, probably won't happen
here (I hope I'm wrong).

I've always found educational lists "difficult", teachers tend to think that
the way they learned and succeed is the right way for *everybody* ...
... maybe that's why its important to also give kids "tools to think with"
and rich "environments" to play with and learn for *themselves*.

francois
(going back to more 'piratical' pythonic lists)



Kirby
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