[olpc-software] age target?

[Alan Kay]

Hi Alan --

My opinion is that for children these are "the same", in that it makes real 
sense to have children learn technology, engineering, math and science as 
aspects of a cause and effect way to perceive and deal with the universe.

I also think that there are some nice tie ins with the developmental 
history of these areas. Many aspects of 19th century (and early 20th 
century) engineering (and the science and math that go along with them) are 
quite accessable and doable by children. I grew up on a farm in the 1940s 
and got very familiar with the simple technology and how to fix it, but 
also learned electronics from books like "The Electrical Experimenter" that 
were written in the 20s and 30s. These books expected that children around 
11 years old on would be able to make quite a variety of electrical and 
electronic devices. Also, model airplanes in those days were really models, 
in the sense that they used the same stringer and template and 
dope-stretched fabric technology of many actual planes.

There is a limit to which this can be pushed, but there's no question in my 
mind that many 3rd world countries could be tremendously aided by learning 
how to do preWWII technology, agriculture, and sanitation, most of which is 
pretty low tech. (Biologists know that sanitation is a much stronger 
disease deterrent than drugs with regard to almost all diseases.)

And, all this certainly ties in with constructivist ideas of learning by 
doing. The trick is to make the more ad hoc cook-bookery of technology and 
engineering tie strongly into science and math. We can tell this is a 
problem by simply noting that it is really difficult to find "science and 
math" in a science museum, what is displayed is usually forms of technology 
and engineering.

Cheers,

Alan

At 09:46 AM 3/21/2006, Alan Cox wrote:
>On Tue, Mar 21, 2006 at 08:05:27AM -0800, Alan Kay wrote:
> > built-ins" (such as communication, stories, games, etc,) but the use for
> > learning "non-natural knowledge" (like science, mathematics, etc.) will
> > languish. We've seen this pattern very strongly in the use of the web in
>
>Where does the category of practical science (ie doing things/making things
>work) fit into this model. I get the impression these are very strong
>knowledgebases once you step outside of the western "have a man in China make
>me a ..." and "its gone funny, buy a new one"  mentality.
>
>Alan