[MWForum]Introducing MW @.0

[Gary McCallister]

I am not sure I agree with Harvey on this.  I have taught a course at the =
college level for a couple of years now that uses Logo pretty extensively. =
 A couple of years ago, I advertised it as charming, fun, robotics, easy =
etc. and got very low enrolment.  Last time I advertised it as challenging,=
 difficult and mind challenging, but fascinating.  Got more people.  I =
think people want the truth, and I think they want to feel like what they =
are doing is worthwhile and difficult.  Maybe Harvey and I are saying the =
same thing, just in different ways.

>>> earlyfire@earthlink.net 09/01/02 02:54AM >>>
Dear Lauren:
The homework which underwrites and guarantees successful integration of=20
Microworlds into a school system is, in the initial phases, much more=20
about conjuring attitude than superimposing strategy. Many teachers=20
regard any new analytically-challenging, concentration-intensive=20
programs requiring long-range commitments in an unfamiliar experiential=20
theater as ranking up there almost as high on the top 40 desirability=20
list as say, a firing squad, unpaid leave a midnight visit from the =
KKK,=20
an Afghanistan Honeymoon, a swig of Socrates-quality hemlock. So the=20
lion's share of your efforts to engage prople will be campaigns of=20
enchantment rather than arsenals of strategy. One needs to find ways to=20
camouflage the labors with charm. Define concrete, creatively=20
visualizable activities and their fruits, the deliverables, and make=20
them teacher-friendly, turbo-charged with inspiration, and the rest is=20
footnotes. No clipboards, no 'death by details', no talk of 'one size=20
fits all'. Create an alternative to sterility, people will begin=20
'jumping ship' in growing numbers. The innovation diffusion mode. And =
it=20
is the children who will do your charming, and let their laughter voice=20
the intrinsic merit of creativity as higher a motive than the=20
acquisition of skills and knowledge. More about how to involve the kids=20
later in tomorrow's post..........

 From the PR point of view, I have found in 9 years of managing=20
elementary school computer labs using Microworlds , that individual and=20
collaborative authoring both in creative writing and in social studies,=20
makes the most graceful justification-exempt way to bridge from a=20
concentration-camp gradebook food-chain mentality to authoring, i.e., =
to=20
working out of imagination. So what's to publish?

Recipe books (a digital camera, capturing kids with waffle batter up to=20
their third knuckle)
Stationery, customized, at Parent Meetings, available to peruse at the=20
online web site.

Downloaded and/or postmarked stamp collections, turned into turtle=20
shapes, used in a template of a postcard or an envelope. The advanced=20
kids get to scanning, sizing, and launder the postmarks, and put their=20
own names on stamps.

Maps of villages, cities, states, countries. A map of Europe or the US=20
can feature Flags, downloaded, and edited into shapes. Make different=20
sized diamonds to reflect city population size. Icons to show various=20
economic enterprise,
(factories, mining, agriculture) Topographic Keys (mountain, forest,=20
desert, swampland, plain, tundra)
Civilization Map Keys (National Parks, Camping facilities)

By 6th grade, kids can reuse other's works or their own last years =
works=20
(plan on longevity, on building a permanent, inter-school sharable=20
library, internet accessible), Map skills prepare the way for=20
integration of a math component, of estimation, and simulating travel=20
agencies to various places can fill a month or three. Collaborative=20
groups plan itineraries, use a variety of vehicles on routes (on foot,=20
horseback, llama, camel, bikes, rental cars and jeeps jeeps, chartered=20
helicopters, planes, boats) (if you're NASA, you create vacations on=20
different planets). (If you're Tolkien or George Lucas, you have to =
know=20
what kind of vehicles to use) Itineraries can also include ships=20
exploring the New World, Marco Polo's voyages, the settlement of the =
US.=20
Lots of inert 8 and a half by eleven to be set in multimedia motion.

Kids have to plot distance and aim, switching shapes, from horse to=20
bike, ship, jeep. railroad, when necessary. The Math-Expert member(s) =
of=20
the team, use glide, and set up a movement that reflects accurate=20
comparative speed of vehicles. Say, for example One minute =3D one =
hour's=20
travel, as coordinated with the map scale. Several itineraries on the=20
same map. Not just to execute. Team members make their projects for=20
others, who have to use stop watches to figure out mileages, given=20
observation of times as the independent variable. Add to this The=20
Money-man. (Ken Lay not available) Rents the vehicles on an hourly or=20
daily basis. Hotel, motel, hostel, campground, food fees have to be=20
figured out. Kids might have to get brochures, and search the internet=20
to acquire real rates. They create tabs, and create receipts. Online=20
cash register programs. Use Turtle shapes worth a thousand words,=20
calculate change. There's your gifted program.

For your offroad kids, create Original lands and maps of unknown places,=20=

and vehicles, science-fiction inspired. Create stories, and at each=20
place you click on a map, a text or movie comes up dynamic dioramas.

An ambitious third grade class sized their faces, pasted them on scanned=20=

dinosaurs, and taught the dinosaurs now to speak by clicking on the=20
face. Juraissic Interviews 101. Then merged the pages into a book.

When you become daring, you can create "roadmaker guns". You set a=20
slider to a road type, 1-dotted line path,2- double dotted line donkey=20
trail 3-graded,........n=3DInterstate n+1=3Dairplane route. Each a =
unique=20
symbol. Then aim, and "Spray out a road" in segments. You have to inlay=20
the coordinates of the segments into a list, and learn item. Then kids=20
make "Living worksheets" to stump their friends. You build a library.=20
Next year a teacher who needs to see the Battle of Saratoga=20
choreographed by infantry icons, militia, artillary, cavalry, borrows=20
the projects of kids. The death of textbooks.
Geometric modelling, making castles from arc, polygon and box-builders.=20
Learning how to create turtle-dots, miniature turtles which can be=20
sprayed out, creating axes of symmetry which can be "erased via ht".
It's 1:49 AM in TUCSON, 50% chance of drenching the desert tomorrow.=20
Drown in Dreams, and say goodbye, Earlyfire.

Tomorrow, how to get the kids to do all the teaching, how to make=20
pictorial gradebooks, set up merit badges, grant college degrees. and a=20
discussion of what can be taught simultaneously, learned in teams, and=20
what needs to be learned sequentially. Then on to developing=20
infrastructures, peer tutors, community parent/child nights, using=20
digital cameras to print out counterfeit money, and selling it for use=20
in your multimedia fairs. And to ask the forum what kinds of programs=20
they would like to see the University for Imagination create to enable=20
printing out Origami, Paper Airplane and three-dimensional architectural=20=

foldables, obelisk popcorn containers. You must buy a proxima projector=20
to shout Microworlds from the Rooftops. We have dead to wake.

 From all of us ABC reporter elves here at the North Pole,
op [Good Night]

warm regards,
Harvey
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----------

> I am new to MW and am looking for some basic starter
> project suggestions for grades 4-6. Something that
> will light the imaginative fires of the students as
> well as their teachers.
>
> What is the best way to present MW as a brand new
> tool. I mentioned that I am in a Montessori school,
> and I suspect that may have been responsible for the
> lack of suggestions, but it is important that MW get a
> good launch in order to getpast the skeptics!!
>
> Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!
>
> Lauren
>
>
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"Music is the one incorporeal entrance into the higher world of=20
knowledge which comprehends mankind, but mankind cannot comprehend."
Ludwig van Beethoven