Rediscovering Things of Science: For many years [1940-1989], the Science Service produced a monthly series of science kits called "Things of Science", available by subscription. When I was a kid (in the 60s), I subscribed to Things of Science for several years. I suspect that many of us who chose careers in the sciences found at least part of our inspiration in those blue boxes that arrived in the mail every month (well, almost every month; sometimes we'd get manila envelopes, filled with stuff that wouldn't fit in the boxes). Each kit ("unit") had a booklet of experiments, and usually everything needed to perform them.
Re/code, Feb. 14, 2015: "The president has encouraged his two daughters, Sasha and Malia, to learn to code, although they apparently haven't taken to it the way he'd like. "I think they got started a little bit late," the president conceded. "Part of what you want to do is introduce this with the ABCs and the colors," he said. Particular attention needs to be paid to helping girls and other underrepresented groups in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, including African-Americans and Latinos, the president continued."
As far as the frame of reference problem goes, does your wife ever have the kids play Simon Says? Kids seem to catch on pretty fast to the concept when it's their turn to be leader (and the other kids will be quick to correct them when they're wrong!).:-)
It is interesting, I think, to consider that almost 50 years of educational research may have been overlooked or disregarded in the making of the learn-to-code tutorials being used by schools around the world (LOGO, which most of the tutorials are patterned after, is a child of the 60s). From Understanding turn commands in Logo: A cognitive perspective: "It is argued that in order for children to handle meaningful programming projects they need to master a set of prerequisite skills. These skills, involving the development of elaborated and explicated spatial concepts, include a distinction between right and left, the intentional reference to the Turtle as a frame of reference...".
From The World of Statistical Humor!: Did you hear about the statistician who had his head in an oven and his feet in a bucket of ice? When asked how he felt, he replied, "On the average I feel just fine."
Elsewhere, three days before the Minecraft Hour of Code announcement, Microsoft indicated it had bigger fish to fry with Minecraft. Can you think of a better way to help make that happen than a 1 hour "infomercial" that as many as 200 million kids are made to participate in by their prize-seeking teachers and schools?:-)
Minecraft in education: Published on Nov 13, 2015. "Minecraft is already empowering millions of players to create, explore, and discover. We want to bring that passion into the classroom."
Not that it has anything to do with the Minecraft lessons being designated a signature Hour of Code tutorial, at least according to the evaluation criteria below, but Code.org's biggest donors coincidentally include Microsoft ($3M+), Ballmer Family Giving ($3M+), and Bill Gates ($1M+). And Code.org's CEO, who once reported to Satya Nadella, is coincidentally a sometimes jogging partner of Steve Ballmer, as well as the next-door neighbor of Microsoft President and Code.org Board member Brad Smith.
Hour of Code: How tutorials will be evaluated for inclusion: Tutorials will be listed higher if they are: high quality designed for beginners - among students AND teachers designed as a ~ 1 hour activity require no sign up require no payment require no installation work across many OS/device platforms, including mobile and tablets work across multiple languages promote learning by all demographic groups (esp. under-represented groups) not pure HTML+CSS web design focus - (our goal is computer science, not just HTML coding)
Tale of Obama: Davis Guggenheim and Lesley Chilcott, the Academy Award winning director/producer team behind Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, returned to politics this summer when Barack Obama's campaign managers called them to produce A Mother's Promise, the ten-minute biographical film of the senator that aired at the Democratic National Convention and now appears on Obama's campaign site, which relaunched with a new design this week.
From the article: "It isn't clear from any of the official reports on Jeffâ(TM)s deathâ"Amazon's, the county's or the state'sâ"how quickly Jeff was found and treated. The Amazon report says that he was discovered at âoeapproximately 2:30 a.m., which is within one minute of his last reported pick.â Yet according to a county EMS report, the 911 call came in at 2:39 a.m., suggesting he may have been down for several minutes before he was found. Amazon said CPR and the defibrillator were "quickly provided" by its in-house team. However, the ambulance didnâ(TM)t get there until 2:49 a.m.â"nearly 20 minutes after his last apparent pick, a significant amount of time in a cardiac emergency."
Grace Hopper | Code of Conduct: "The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference (GHC) believes our community should be truly open for everyone. As such, we are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all participants free from discrimination for any reason including on the basis of gender...."
Go To Hell Statement Considered Harmful: "In our definition of an algorithm we have stressed that the primitive actions should be executable, that they should be done. "Go to the other side of the square." is perfectly acceptable, "Go to hell.", however, is not an algorithm but a curse, because it cannot be done." --Edsger W. Dijkstra, 11 May 1930 - 6 August 2002
Slashdot Mirror
Rediscovering Things of Science: For many years [1940-1989], the Science Service produced a monthly series of science kits called "Things of Science", available by subscription. When I was a kid (in the 60s), I subscribed to Things of Science for several years. I suspect that many of us who chose careers in the sciences found at least part of our inspiration in those blue boxes that arrived in the mail every month (well, almost every month; sometimes we'd get manila envelopes, filled with stuff that wouldn't fit in the boxes). Each kit ("unit") had a booklet of experiments, and usually everything needed to perform them.
Ed Yourdon
...did it deliver? :-)
Re/code, Feb. 14, 2015: "The president has encouraged his two daughters, Sasha and Malia, to learn to code, although they apparently haven't taken to it the way he'd like. "I think they got started a little bit late," the president conceded. "Part of what you want to do is introduce this with the ABCs and the colors," he said. Particular attention needs to be paid to helping girls and other underrepresented groups in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) fields, including African-Americans and Latinos, the president continued."
As far as the frame of reference problem goes, does your wife ever have the kids play Simon Says? Kids seem to catch on pretty fast to the concept when it's their turn to be leader (and the other kids will be quick to correct them when they're wrong!). :-)
It is interesting, I think, to consider that almost 50 years of educational research may have been overlooked or disregarded in the making of the learn-to-code tutorials being used by schools around the world (LOGO, which most of the tutorials are patterned after, is a child of the 60s). From Understanding turn commands in Logo: A cognitive perspective: "It is argued that in order for children to handle meaningful programming projects they need to master a set of prerequisite skills. These skills, involving the development of elaborated and explicated spatial concepts, include a distinction between right and left, the intentional reference to the Turtle as a frame of reference...".
Take a step to your left!
Like Snagglepuss I'll step to the left
From The World of Statistical Humor!: Did you hear about the statistician who had his head in an oven and his feet in a bucket of ice? When asked how he felt, he replied, "On the average I feel just fine."
This just in! Charter firm suspected of cheating federal grant program
Who's learning more here: Cameron vs. 10-Month-Old Baby vs. Obama?
A marked-up document (.docx) from July on the website of the STEM Education Coalition, which counts Microsoft as a member, seems to attribute the enrichment eligibility criteria clause to NY Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Last year, Gillibrand said, "Typically, in STEM fields, science, technology, engineering and math, it's typically white men. Very few women, very few minorities, very few from economically disadvantaged neighborhoods. So we want to change that."
Mickey Mouse Alma Mater 2.0
Now it's time to say goodbye
to all our company.
M-I-C
Spoken:
see you in Court real soon
K-E-Y
Spoken:
why? because we're replacing. you
M-O-U-S-E.
Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer took a measly two weeks maternity leave.
Elsewhere, three days before the Minecraft Hour of Code announcement, Microsoft indicated it had bigger fish to fry with Minecraft. Can you think of a better way to help make that happen than a 1 hour "infomercial" that as many as 200 million kids are made to participate in by their prize-seeking teachers and schools? :-)
Minecraft in education: Published on Nov 13, 2015. "Minecraft is already empowering millions of players to create, explore, and discover. We want to bring that passion into the classroom."
Not that it has anything to do with the Minecraft lessons being designated a signature Hour of Code tutorial, at least according to the evaluation criteria below, but Code.org's biggest donors coincidentally include Microsoft ($3M+), Ballmer Family Giving ($3M+), and Bill Gates ($1M+). And Code.org's CEO, who once reported to Satya Nadella, is coincidentally a sometimes jogging partner of Steve Ballmer, as well as the next-door neighbor of Microsoft President and Code.org Board member Brad Smith.
Hour of Code: How tutorials will be evaluated for inclusion:
Tutorials will be listed higher if they are:
high quality
designed for beginners - among students AND teachers
designed as a ~ 1 hour activity
require no sign up
require no payment
require no installation
work across many OS/device platforms, including mobile and tablets
work across multiple languages
promote learning by all demographic groups (esp. under-represented groups)
not pure HTML+CSS web design focus - (our goal is computer science, not just HTML coding)
Hey, back in the day you could buy votes for a drink! Perhaps more effective than the $10 prizes though, is the $500,000 in prizes Code.org dangles to entice schools to get with the program(ming), or (in the past), the $750 gift codes Code.org offered to teachers who got their students to code (with $250 more for teachers of girls).
Point taken. GB it is!
"Star Wars isn't for girls," are the NYT's, NCWIT's, and FORTUNE's words, not mine. :-)
Tale of Obama: Davis Guggenheim and Lesley Chilcott, the Academy Award winning director/producer team behind Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth, returned to politics this summer when Barack Obama's campaign managers called them to produce A Mother's Promise, the ten-minute biographical film of the senator that aired at the Democratic National Convention and now appears on Obama's campaign site, which relaunched with a new design this week.
How and when would you introduce kids to programming?
From the article: "It isn't clear from any of the official reports on Jeffâ(TM)s deathâ"Amazon's, the county's or the state'sâ"how quickly Jeff was found and treated. The Amazon report says that he was discovered at âoeapproximately 2:30 a.m., which is within one minute of his last reported pick.â Yet according to a county EMS report, the 911 call came in at 2:39 a.m., suggesting he may have been down for several minutes before he was found. Amazon said CPR and the defibrillator were "quickly provided" by its in-house team. However, the ambulance didnâ(TM)t get there until 2:49 a.m.â"nearly 20 minutes after his last apparent pick, a significant amount of time in a cardiac emergency."
Grace Hopper | Code of Conduct: "The Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Conference (GHC) believes our community should be truly open for everyone. As such, we are committed to providing a friendly, safe and welcoming environment for all participants free from discrimination for any reason including on the basis of gender...."
Purple Haze all in my brain, / lately things don't seem the same, / actin' funny but I don't know why / 'scuse me while I calculate Pi
Africa Code Week is also underway. Don't believe Antarctica Code Week's been claimed yet, if you want to beat Microsoft to it. :-)
Go To Hell Statement Considered Harmful: "In our definition of an algorithm we have stressed that the primitive actions should be executable, that they should be done. "Go to the other side of the square." is perfectly acceptable, "Go to hell.", however, is not an algorithm but a curse, because it cannot be done."
--Edsger W. Dijkstra, 11 May 1930 - 6 August 2002