[Yr7-10it] information literacy (was Alice)

[Costello, Rob R]

Looking into Scratch yesterday - which I'll start the intro programming
class on today - found this interesting thread on  ease of use; and
transfer to other languages etc

Scratch / Alice / Start Logo TNG / Phrogram  

http://scratch.mit.edu/forums/viewtopic.php?pid=5227

I'm beginning to think grappling with "language" in this way - even if
experimentally done - is an essential element of "computer literacy" 

And that not doing this risks leaving the students in the equivalent
state of being illiterate, or innumerate, or whatever the opposite of
information literacy is   (disguised by the fact that they can still
find their way around user interfaces - just as textual illiteracy still
allows you to watch video) 

That is, that more should be considered under the term "information
literacy" than research skills or critical review of content 

Eg on that list, someone said "My eleven-year-old son is learning many
languages: logo, robolab, scratch, alice, starlogo, nqc" 

(and some one else questioned the depth of learning in each language;
but its not a problem I've run into here  - more likely absence of any
of these) 

A little provocative, maybe, but I think its where I'm going 
(too much reading for my masters course, maybe) 

Cheers 

Rob 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:yr7-10it-
> bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Dr Paul Chandler
> Sent: Friday, 7 March 2008 9:12 AM
> To: Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
> Subject: RE: [Yr7-10it] Alice Programming (and Randy)
> 
> 
> That's not my experience of Alice ... Found it quite stable.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au
> [mailto:yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Diana (Hatch)
> Faizoulline
> Sent: Friday, March 07, 2008 8:46 AM
> To: 'Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List'
> Subject: RE: [Yr7-10it] Alice Programming (and Randy)
> 
> Only problem with Alice ... terribly buggy working over the network.
> Often students are unable to complete a save or later unable to open
the
> file.
> Very frustrating.
> 
> 
> Diana (Hatch) Faizoulline
> McKinnon Secondary College
> McKinnon Road, McKinnon 3204
> Telephone: (03) 8520 9085
> Email: hat at mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au
> http://www.mckinnonsc.vic.edu.au/home/hat/
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: yr7-10it-bounces at edulists.com.au [mailto:yr7-10it-
> > bounces at edulists.com.au] On Behalf Of Margaret Lawson
> > Sent: Thursday, 6 March 2008 10:08 PM
> > To: Year 7 - 10 Information Technology Teachers' Mailing List
> > Subject: [Yr7-10it] Alice Programming (and Randy)
> >
> > Alice is "an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it
easy
> > to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive
> > game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a freely available
> > teaching tool designed to be a student's first exposure to
> > object-oriented programming. It allows students to learn fundamental
> > programming concepts in the context of creating animated movies and
> > simple video games. In Alice, 3-D objects (e.g., people, animals,
and
> > vehicles) populate a virtual world and students create a program to
> > animate the objects."
> >
> > It is a FREE programming package with lots of FREE resources for
> > teachers ...
> >
> > Randy Pausch is the creator (or one of the creators) of "Alice"
> > software
> > project, and ... he is dying from Pancreatic Cancer.
> > He delivered his last public Lecture at Carnegie Mellon University
> > (CMU)
> > in Pittsburgh ( dubbed the "Last Lecture") called "Really Achieving
> > Your Childhood Dreams". I managed to catch him on Oprah the other
week
> 
> > (I know, I know) and thought It would be worthwhile to push the
> > details onto the lists.
> >
> > If you teach programming, it is well worthwhile to become familiar
> > with Alice. There are some great resources out there, suggested
> > syllabus and online communities that use the environment as an
> > introduction to programming. As for Randy, hunt up his "last
lecture"
> > (links from his site). It is worthwhile listening to and could even
be
> 
> > good to show at school to some of the older kids.
> >
> > Links:
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Randy_Pausch
> > http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/
> > http://www.alice.org/
> >
> >
> > enjoy!
> >
> > Margaret
> > (on leave from St. Michael's Grammar School)
> > _______________________________________________
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> > Year 7 - 10 IT Mailing List kindly supported by
> > http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au - Victorian Curriculum and Assessment
> > Authority and http://www.vitta.org.au  - VITTA Victorian Information
> > Technology Teachers Association Inc
> 
> 
> 
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