Changes

The epitome of this method is Isaac Newton's discoveries in gravity and thus in astronomy, combining the mathematics of an inverse-square attraction with millennia of observation of the stars, the planets, the tides, the calendar, comets, meteors, and other phenomena. The discussion of these matters in detail amounts to a library. Here we will note only that there is much more to the story than is given in schoolbooks, and that much of it matters in daily life, where denial of the findings and methods of science is a major factor in US politics, and in many other countries. It is widely conjectured that teaching scientific method in schools would greatly improve public discourse, and cut into financial fraud and other crimes. Unfortunately, so-called science teaching in schools focuses on results, and almost totally ignores method.

The epitome of this method is Isaac Newton's discoveries in gravity and thus in astronomy, combining the mathematics of an inverse-square attraction with millennia of observation of the stars, the planets, the tides, the calendar, comets, meteors, and other phenomena. The discussion of these matters in detail amounts to a library. Here we will note only that there is much more to the story than is given in schoolbooks, and that much of it matters in daily life, where denial of the findings and methods of science is a major factor in US politics, and in many other countries. It is widely conjectured that teaching scientific method in schools would greatly improve public discourse, and cut into financial fraud and other crimes. Unfortunately, so-called science teaching in schools focuses on results, and almost totally ignores method.

Alan Kay, Mokurai, and others are discussing these questions on the iaep mailing list.

Alan Kay, Mokurai, and others are discussing these questions on the ''It's an Education Program'' (iaep) [http://lists.sugarlabs.org/listinfo/iaep mailing list].

==Discovery in learning software==

==Discovery in learning software==

When I ([[User:Mokurai|Mokurai) start in with a piece of software that is new to me, I begin by locating the minimum set of functions for doing useful work. With a text editor, word processor, or publishing program, that means

When I ([[User:Mokurai|Mokurai]]) start in with a piece of software that is new to me, I begin by locating the minimum set of functions for doing useful work. With a text editor, word processor, or publishing program, that means

* File/New

* File/New

This exploration means left- and right-clicking very object in the working area and every tool icon on any toolbar; trying every command on any menu or submenu; clicking every button in every dialogue box; and testing anything else I spot. Most items will be reasonably familiar to me from previous experience with other software, but this will not apply to the novice. There are almost always features that I have not seen elsewhere, where I am again a novice. Some I can understand by trying them to see what they do. In a few cases I have to consult the help, or ask somebody.

This exploration means left- and right-clicking very object in the working area and every tool icon on any toolbar; trying every command on any menu or submenu; clicking every button in every dialogue box; and testing anything else I spot. Most items will be reasonably familiar to me from previous experience with other software, but this will not apply to the novice. There are almost always features that I have not seen elsewhere, where I am again a novice. Some I can understand by trying them to see what they do. In a few cases I have to consult the help, or ask somebody.

When I was learning Framemaker for professional technical publishing, I spent some time on this every day for several weeks. I am happy to say that no Sugar activity took me more than a few hours to understand in detail, except where there are features not made obvious in the User Interface and the Help. You can see the list of such problems in [[The undiscoverable]].

When I was learning Framemaker for professional technical publishing, I spent some time on this every day for several weeks. I am happy to say that no Sugar activity took me more than a few hours to understand in detail, except where there are features not made obvious in the User Interface and the Help. You can see the list of such problems in [[The Undiscoverable]].

This neat pattern does not work so simply for programming languages. They have many more features than applications, and tend not to expose them in a convenient GUI. The principle of locating the essentials first is carried out in the tradition of providing a "Hello, World" example that does nothing more than display that text. This can vary from a simple expression, such as  

This neat pattern does not work so simply for programming languages. They have many more features than applications, and tend not to expose them in a convenient GUI. The principle of locating the essentials first is carried out in the tradition of providing a "Hello, World" example that does nothing more than display that text. This can vary from a simple expression, such as