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• Lecture 1: Education for kids– Lego Mindstorms (NQC: Not Quite C)– Scratch
• Lecture 2: Unix for Poets– Request: bring a laptop if possible
• Windows Users: please install http://www.cygwin.com/ – Target audience: Grad Students in Linguistics– Unix shell scripts (almost not programming)– Small is Beautiful
Mindstorms• When children are young, they are incredibly facile
learners. – If your child were to spend some time in France, it is likely he or
she will pick up quite a bit of French. – "What would happen," asked Papert, "if children who can’t do
math grew up in Mathland, a place that is to math what France is to French?"
• In the 1970s, Papert constructed a kind of Mathland using the LOGO programming language, and robotic turtles that could draw pictures. – These tools were used by very young kids, who would not
ordinarily be exposed to concepts like angles and polygons. – Papert’s book, Mindstorms, recounts this fascinating story.
• Man machine interface Kid2kid• Machines should be seen (but not heard)
– Scratch = LOGO/LEGO + Web Search• Keywords to try:• Circle_Circus, Fold Symmetry, Rubik’s Cube, Guitar Hero, BigPaw, Birthday
– Instant gratification (Option to Run without downloading)– Source is always available– Lots of Mashups– Comments, tags, more projects by, recommendations, etc.– Stats/Community Feedback:
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