Hello World (re: Ubuntu Sugarteam)

Makho Mashoba mmashoba at gmail.com
Tue Jan 26 21:20:35 GMT 2010


Thank you for these resources, Caroline.  It's very helpful to know
what has been done thus far.  The OLPC community has made great
inroads into teaching children these great skills.

I do have some suggestions, though.  My first thought is that the
eToys and Scratch programs appear to be sandbox-type environments.
That is, they let the kids play creatively with programming.

Unfortunately, I do not feel that the expression of creativity is by
itself enough motivation to get children to want to program.  If I
were 6, and I wanted to be creative, it would be easier to just paint
a picture or write a story with my hands.  Trying it out with a
computer might be an entertaining exercise - at first.  Chances are
I'd rather show physical work to my mom, who could praise my originals
just the same.

Which brings me back to my original goal - getting children to program
so that they can earn a living for their families.  Now, some may
disagree with the child-labor implications of the idea, but
programming work is relatively ergonomic, is very self-directed, and
can be immensely rewarding: especially when you invest your energy.

I recommend other means of motivating children to program beyond
creative exploration.  And I don't mean taking away their
self-motivation.  I believe children are able to dream up their own
projects, so that the motivation stays rewarding and doesn't become a
chore.  Everyone would benefit if their ideas could serve an economic
purpose, though.  Imagine, a sustainable and comfortable income
available to people the world over.

One method of motivation would be to get them to meet their own needs
through programming.  A concrete example: sponsor a prize to the first
team of 5th graders in Uruguay to design a website marketing to
developed nations the benefits of their all-natural agricultural
products.  The prize could be cash, or maybe even an XO for a
grandparent or other family member.

Another example: some sort of scholarship for Peruvians rewarding the
"most practical program award" to that student.  The scholarship could
be good for the purchase of books at University, as an idea.

A simple way to reward these children at zero cost would be to
convince a few programmers to review the children's programs and
praise them for clever code, with recommendations for improvements.

I may be missing something here.  I often don't think things all the
way through.  But I am willing to do a lot of legwork.  So please
criticize.

- Makho

On Mon, Jan 25, 2010 at 11:40 AM, Caroline Meeks <caroline at meekshome.com> wrote:
> Hi Makho,
> Very nice to meet you!  I do think you have valuable skills to help us.
> There are so many ways to get started.  One thing I might suggest is looking
> at the "teach kids to program" resources available for eToys and Scratch.
> These seem to be the main ways young kids get started with programming via
> Sugar.  They are also powerful story telling tools.
> Also have you seen Using the XO in the
> Classroom: http://wiki.laptop.org/go/Sdenka_Salas_-_The_XO_Laptop_in_the_Classroom
> Perhaps from there you can see what resources are needed to make Sugar an
> even better platform for kids learning the powerful 21st Century skill of
> making technology do what you want it to.  Or maybe you can run a Sugar on a
> Stick dropin programming class at a local library?
> Tell me more about what strikes your fancy and I'll probably have more
> suggestions.
> Cheers,
> Caroline
>
>
> On Sat, Jan 23, 2010 at 1:06 PM, Makho Mashoba <mmashoba at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> I'm Makho.  I heard about the team through Jeff Elkner, volunteering
>> during a couple python classes.  I don't know how to program, and I
>> don't know much about Linux or Sugar (though I do use Xubuntu on one
>> of my old computers).  I have free time, and I'd like to be
>> productive.
>>
>> That's partially why I'm hoping to get involved and help the Ubuntu
>> Sugarteam.  Ultimately, I want to design and build online interactive
>> tutorials that teach kids in developing nations to program.  Hopefully
>> it would help them earn an income for their families.  Every journey
>> begins with a single step, so I want to learn the ropes of the open
>> source community and open learning first.
>>
>> The skills I bring: I have a BA in Psychology from Yale, with
>> coursework in Educational Psychology.  I'm a decent writer, a great
>> researcher, and sometimes inspiration strikes me with a good idea.
>> More often passion strikes me with a vague and impractical aspiration.
>>  I speak a little Spanish, and I lived in France for a year in high
>> school.
>>
>> I look forward to helping.
>> Thanks,
>>
>> Makho Mashoba
>>
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>
>
>
> --
> Caroline Meeks
> Solution Grove
> Caroline at SolutionGrove.com
>
> 617-500-3488 - Office
> 505-213-3268 - Fax
>



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