> On Fri, Jan 9, 2009 at 3:48 PM, Steven Black <blacks@indiana.edu> wrote:
> > You should've tried a hex editor on the saved games! That's how I
> > started.
>
> Perhaps; too late, now!
I suppose it is. :)
> Who needs the ability to change things outside the game when you can
> do it in real-time while you're playing? ;-)
Heh. I suppose you are right there.
Most god modes mark you down as cheating and prevent your highscore from
showing up, though...
> However, I've found it not worthwhile for anything non-trivial. I've
> *YET* to get Conway's Game of Life working, and I'm certain that it is
> Alice's failure and not my own (I've proven it; in one method getting
> the "i"th item out of a list of booleans comes out "true" or "false",
> in the method I originally wrote, it always comes out "None").
Sounds like trouble.
> All in all, so far I feel like "Wow, this *could be* really cool if it
> had an open community behind it, but I guess it's okay enough for
> Middle Schoolers making 3-d cartoons, as it is."
>
> I understand it's aimed at college level CS courses, but I can't
> really imagine it being appropriate for any but the most basic
> introduction, as it is.
When I see you type "basic introduction" my brain thinks, "grade
schoolers". Perhaps I have higher expectations from grade schoolers,
though.
I mean, it is basically a glorified Logo, except without a turtle it has
a 3D world-thing.
> > Yeah, the rest of the world thinks of using it no earlier than middle
> > school. I think, "Hey, that may be an introduction suitable to age 5 or
> > 6."
>
> Totally. 8th graders jump in with absolutely no problem. I don't know
> about *ANY* 5 or 6 year old, but I would have had a blast with this
> when I was 6.
Well, I'm talking super-smart 5 or 6 year old kids. A kid that, perhaps
with a little help at first, thinks it would be fun.
I'm okay with it being something I have to actively help with when
she's that young. With any luck it'll get her interest up, and that's
important early on. With sufficient interest, then they try to do
stuff on their own, and that's where the real progress happens.
> *I THINK* it would be suitable for earlier ages (5ish) if: the person
> teaching it understands it and knows the learner well enough to
> explain it for them, and the kid learning already has a firm grasp of
> using a mouse with a GUI and a healthy curiosity. Key here is: IF the
> kid is interested.
Yeah, I hear you there. Have I mentioned that "Unconditional Parenting"
book by Alfie Kohn? (It is great.) Yeah, there's no way I'm forcing her
to do anything she doesn't want to do. I'm not even going to try to use
rewards/praise to try to get her to do it.
I want her to honestly enjoy it. You don't instill enjoyment in a task
with rewards or praise. (You may instill *obligation* that way, but not
enjoyment.)
> We use Scratch in our Lower School programming classes, FWIW; it's got
> a similar drag-and-drop interface, but it's based on Squeak and
> interacts primarily with 2-D graphics (but it can also be used to
> program Lego robots...).
Interesting. Well, one or the other should be good for Rosalie.
We'll see which one seems most interesting to her first.
By the way, have you done Conway's Game of Life in Scratch? ;)
--
Steven Black <blacks@indiana.edu> / KeyID: 8596FA8E
Fingerprint: 108C 089C EFA4 832C BF07 78C2 DE71 5433 8596 FA8E
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