Well, that's still good enough for first place. In individual events,
that is 15 gold, 12 silver, and 5 bronze. Whoa, looks like it took me
100 minutes to pass Algebra (er, just the basics, closer to pre-Algebra
but this is where we lose them) -- my points rate is 4880.
Damn, a bronze in the factoring of the difference of squares? That might
have been during happy hour. Hang on...hunh, even a gold only brings me
up a few thousand. I guess those problems /are/ easy, just a couple of
bits if you will.
Yeah, its like the game, you can keep doing a mission until you get a gold.
Well, gotta go find some more wav files, Bill Murray "It's in the hole!"
is getting old. Bones's "Thats the greatest technical job I've ever
seen." will /never/ get old.
kt
On Jul 16, 10:31 pm, Kenny <·········@gmail.com> wrote:
> Well, that's still good enough for first place. In individual events,
> that is 15 gold, 12 silver, and 5 bronze. Whoa, looks like it took me
> 100 minutes to pass Algebra (er, just the basics, closer to pre-Algebra
> but this is where we lose them) -- my points rate is 4880.
>
> Damn, a bronze in the factoring of the difference of squares? That might
> have been during happy hour. Hang on...hunh, even a gold only brings me
> up a few thousand. I guess those problems /are/ easy, just a couple of
> bits if you will.
>
> Yeah, its like the game, you can keep doing a mission until you get a gold.
>
> Well, gotta go find some more wav files, Bill Murray "It's in the hole!"
> is getting old. Bones's "Thats the greatest technical job I've ever
> seen." will /never/ get old.
>
> kt
Ever think about planting Easter Eggs in the app? Ya know, pass a
level in record time and get a clue to open up a secret level where
you can bounce around and collect factorials by punching clouds and
breaking bricks? I mean, why be "like a game" when you can simply BE a
game.
-Jason
Jason wrote:
> On Jul 16, 10:31 pm, Kenny <·········@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Well, that's still good enough for first place. In individual events,
>> that is 15 gold, 12 silver, and 5 bronze. Whoa, looks like it took me
>> 100 minutes to pass Algebra (er, just the basics, closer to pre-Algebra
>> but this is where we lose them) -- my points rate is 4880.
>>
>> Damn, a bronze in the factoring of the difference of squares? That might
>> have been during happy hour. Hang on...hunh, even a gold only brings me
>> up a few thousand. I guess those problems /are/ easy, just a couple of
>> bits if you will.
>>
>> Yeah, its like the game, you can keep doing a mission until you get a gold.
>>
>> Well, gotta go find some more wav files, Bill Murray "It's in the hole!"
>> is getting old. Bones's "Thats the greatest technical job I've ever
>> seen." will /never/ get old.
>>
>> kt
>
> Ever think about planting Easter Eggs in the app?
Yes, tho not exactly. Other things, like letting kids discover on their
own that clicking on the tutor's nose gets even more help. Also saves me
from having to write any documentation. :)
Ya know, pass a
> level in record time and get a clue to open up a secret level where
> you can bounce around and collect factorials by punching clouds and
> breaking bricks? I mean, why be "like a game" when you can simply BE a
> game.
It's a possibility down the road, but one has to be careful not to
become distracting. One message implicit in the software (and a message
delivered by any good teacher of any subject) is that the subject is
cool in and of itself. Tapping into that is the biggest win possible,
while turning math into a real game implicitly begins with the opposite
message: "yes, math sucks but we made it into a game for you."
http://www.dimensionm.com/
I played a few levels, really dilutes the learning.
Kids know learning matters and take great pride/satisfaction in doing
well in any subject, the only problem is that paper does not give much
feedback. I hope to change that precise bit of the, um, equation.
kt
http://www.theoryyalgebra.com/
On Jul 17, 2:33 pm, Kenny <·········@gmail.com> wrote:
> Jason wrote:
> > On Jul 16, 10:31 pm, Kenny <·········@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Well, that's still good enough for first place. In individual events,
> >> that is 15 gold, 12 silver, and 5 bronze. Whoa, looks like it took me
> >> 100 minutes to pass Algebra (er, just the basics, closer to pre-Algebra
> >> but this is where we lose them) -- my points rate is 4880.
>
> >> Damn, a bronze in the factoring of the difference of squares? That might
> >> have been during happy hour. Hang on...hunh, even a gold only brings me
> >> up a few thousand. I guess those problems /are/ easy, just a couple of
> >> bits if you will.
>
> >> Yeah, its like the game, you can keep doing a mission until you get a gold.
>
> >> Well, gotta go find some more wav files, Bill Murray "It's in the hole!"
> >> is getting old. Bones's "Thats the greatest technical job I've ever
> >> seen." will /never/ get old.
>
> >> kt
>
> > Ever think about planting Easter Eggs in the app?
>
> Yes, tho not exactly. Other things, like letting kids discover on their
> own that clicking on the tutor's nose gets even more help. Also saves me
> from having to write any documentation. :)
Or add ability to upload their math teacher picture and than be able
to throw tomatoes at him, drawn him, burn him etc . You got the
picture. That's what I call a killer feature
>
> Ya know, pass a
>
> > level in record time and get a clue to open up a secret level where
> > you can bounce around and collect factorials by punching clouds and
> > breaking bricks? I mean, why be "like a game" when you can simply BE a
> > game.
>
> It's a possibility down the road, but one has to be careful not to
> become distracting. One message implicit in the software (and a message
> delivered by any good teacher of any subject) is that the subject is
> cool in and of itself. Tapping into that is the biggest win possible,
> while turning math into a real game implicitly begins with the opposite
> message: "yes, math sucks but we made it into a game for you."
>
> http://www.dimensionm.com/
>
> I played a few levels, really dilutes the learning.
>
> Kids know learning matters and take great pride/satisfaction in doing
> well in any subject, the only problem is that paper does not give much
> feedback. I hope to change that precise bit of the, um, equation.
>
> kthttp://www.theoryyalgebra.com/- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
On Jul 17, 5:33 am, Kenny <·········@gmail.com> wrote:
> Jason wrote:
> > On Jul 16, 10:31 pm, Kenny <·········@gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Well, that's still good enough for first place. In individual events,
> >> that is 15 gold, 12 silver, and 5 bronze. Whoa, looks like it took me
> >> 100 minutes to pass Algebra (er, just the basics, closer to pre-Algebra
> >> but this is where we lose them) -- my points rate is 4880.
>
> >> Damn, a bronze in the factoring of the difference of squares? That might
> >> have been during happy hour. Hang on...hunh, even a gold only brings me
> >> up a few thousand. I guess those problems /are/ easy, just a couple of
> >> bits if you will.
>
> >> Yeah, its like the game, you can keep doing a mission until you get a gold.
>
> >> Well, gotta go find some more wav files, Bill Murray "It's in the hole!"
> >> is getting old. Bones's "Thats the greatest technical job I've ever
> >> seen." will /never/ get old.
>
> >> kt
>
> > Ever think about planting Easter Eggs in the app?
>
> Yes, tho not exactly. Other things, like letting kids discover on their
> own that clicking on the tutor's nose gets even more help. Also saves me
> from having to write any documentation. :)
>
> Ya know, pass a
>
> > level in record time and get a clue to open up a secret level where
> > you can bounce around and collect factorials by punching clouds and
> > breaking bricks? I mean, why be "like a game" when you can simply BE a
> > game.
>
> It's a possibility down the road, but one has to be careful not to
> become distracting. One message implicit in the software (and a message
> delivered by any good teacher of any subject) is that the subject is
> cool in and of itself. Tapping into that is the biggest win possible,
> while turning math into a real game implicitly begins with the opposite
> message: "yes, math sucks but we made it into a game for you."
>
Excellent point. I can see that one must be careful here.
Jason wrote:
> On Jul 17, 5:33 am, Kenny <·········@gmail.com> wrote:
>> Jason wrote:
>>> On Jul 16, 10:31 pm, Kenny <·········@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> Well, that's still good enough for first place. In individual events,
>>>> that is 15 gold, 12 silver, and 5 bronze. Whoa, looks like it took me
>>>> 100 minutes to pass Algebra (er, just the basics, closer to pre-Algebra
>>>> but this is where we lose them) -- my points rate is 4880.
>>>> Damn, a bronze in the factoring of the difference of squares? That might
>>>> have been during happy hour. Hang on...hunh, even a gold only brings me
>>>> up a few thousand. I guess those problems /are/ easy, just a couple of
>>>> bits if you will.
>>>> Yeah, its like the game, you can keep doing a mission until you get a gold.
>>>> Well, gotta go find some more wav files, Bill Murray "It's in the hole!"
>>>> is getting old. Bones's "Thats the greatest technical job I've ever
>>>> seen." will /never/ get old.
>>>> kt
>>> Ever think about planting Easter Eggs in the app?
>> Yes, tho not exactly. Other things, like letting kids discover on their
>> own that clicking on the tutor's nose gets even more help. Also saves me
>> from having to write any documentation. :)
>>
>> Ya know, pass a
>>
>>> level in record time and get a clue to open up a secret level where
>>> you can bounce around and collect factorials by punching clouds and
>>> breaking bricks? I mean, why be "like a game" when you can simply BE a
>>> game.
>> It's a possibility down the road, but one has to be careful not to
>> become distracting. One message implicit in the software (and a message
>> delivered by any good teacher of any subject) is that the subject is
>> cool in and of itself. Tapping into that is the biggest win possible,
>> while turning math into a real game implicitly begins with the opposite
>> message: "yes, math sucks but we made it into a game for you."
>>
>
> Excellent point. I can see that one must be careful here.
>
I had the good fortune to see the "educational" Where In the World Is
Carmen San Diego? software in action while installing my Algebra
software in a high school in Chinatown, NYC.
The kids had learned to just hit hint-hint-hint and then the game let
them have the answer. I guess not always, but when kids got stuck they
just went "Hey Mr Miller where is Chicago?" and he told them. They just
wanted to beat the game. :)
Meanwhile, Carnegie Learning has a nice Algebra product but it tells the
student's what to do if they get a step wrong like three times. I
believe they also just tell the student what to do if they ask thru all
the hints. I saw a study saying kids were just going hint-hint-hint.
They also observed that when points were taken off for requesting hints,
kids noticed and stopped asking the software for hints! They called the
teacher over and asked them. Doh!
In the end, kids can be pretty smart. :) And this is what MacGregor was
getting at in his Theory Y deal: workers and students will amaze
management/teachers if they are given the tools they need to get the
work done on their own, thru their own initiative. The mistake most
management and all edutainment (what a word!) software makes is not
realizing that in the end workers like being productive and students
like mastering content /for its own sake/. I saw the latter for myself
teaching in working class and inner city schools, it's no joke.
What I am trying to do is lighten things up with graphics and funny
sounds without diluting the math. And if kid enters their own problem
and the last hint does not help, that is their tough luck. If they get a
step wrong ten times the software tells them ten times and waits for
them to enter an eleventh step. On randomly generated examples it will
Just Do It for them if they ask, but when they go for certification
there are no hints and if they make one mistake, boom, problem over.
Three problems wrong and, boom, exam over. As one of the condolence
messages say, "Hey, what's a Restart button for?"
:)
kt
http://www.theoryyalgebra.com/
On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 17:47:15 -0400, Kenny <·········@gmail.com> said:
| ...
| In the end, kids can be pretty smart. :) And this is what MacGregor
| was getting at in his Theory Y deal: workers and students will amaze
| management/teachers if they are given the tools they need to get the
| work done on their own, thru their own initiative. The mistake most
| management and all edutainment (what a word!) software makes is not
| realizing that in the end workers like being productive and students
| like mastering content /for its own sake/. I saw the latter for myself
| teaching in working class and inner city schools, it's no joke.
Indeed.
| What I am trying to do is lighten things up with graphics and funny
| sounds without diluting the math.
Aye, and may you succeed in that (certainly not beyond 6.02e23, may
Ms. Stoeva a.k.a. the White Death rest in peace...).
---Vassil.
--
Peius melius est. ---Ricardus Gabriel.
On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:33:58 -0400, Kenny <·········@gmail.com> said:
| ...
| the only problem is that paper does not give much feedback.
That is not a problem, but a feature---it is all the more effective
as a learning medium for that, even though it may seem less
efficient. Gottes muehlen mahlen langsam, aber mahlen trefflich
klein...
Well, perhaps this is insufficiently relevant to high-school
education...
---Vassil.
--
Peius melius est. ---Ricardus Gabriel.
Vassil Nikolov wrote:
> On Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:33:58 -0400, Kenny <·········@gmail.com> said:
> | ...
> | the only problem is that paper does not give much feedback.
>
> That is not a problem, but a feature---it is all the more effective
> as a learning medium for that, even though it may seem less
> efficient.
What part of "pain threshold" do you not... look, it's fine that I
cannot hit a forehand to save my life these days, but then I love tennis
beyond all recognition, Bring On Da Pain!
You are arguing for a correspondence course in juggling in which one
practices without beanbags in front of a video camera, uploads the MPG,
and then the next day gets back a list of all the frame numbers at which
you would have dropped one. Juuusssstt peachy.*
kt
* Admitted, Jay S. was ready to invest on the spot. k