From: Nicholas Evans <OwlManAtt@...>
Date: 2006-06-13T08:11:18+09:00
Subject: Re: Ruby for Highschoolers?

why the lucky stiff wrote:
> It's just like a chemistry teacher having fun with liquid nitrogen and a banana.
> You want to find dramatic, compelling exercises that you enjoy performing and
> that the students totally lap up.
Aye, that's something I agree with. Thermite paste is a bit more 
dramatic that /anything/ nitrogen can do, though.

> For Ruby, the equivalent of the liquid nitrogen experiment is the social
> projector demo.  You set up a projector connected to a server.  And you give
> each student a REPL (irb) which acts as the client.  Then you give students
> commands which will affect the screen.  In the past, I've used DRb[2] and students
> are given an object and they run methods.  I have a number of variations of this:
> 
>  * Each student gets a section of the screen which can be altered in color and
>    shape.  Or a screen full of emoticons or avatars.
> 
>  * Students vote on topics and the screen charts their response.
> 
>  * You show a picture on screen and ask students to "tag" the picture.  Words
>    appear on screen with size corresponding to the popularity.  Use ambiguous
>    imagery that solicits interesting responses.
> 
> The idea here is that students watch the screen fill and feel the reward as a
> group.  High school students crave group acceptance anyway, so this feeds that
> craving.
That's actually a really nifty idea for introducting people to Ruby.

> Good luck, intrepid Nicholas.  DO NOT TRY TO WRITE A GAME.
Thanks!

I'm also guessing that you're saying don't write a game because people 
will be discouraged by the fact that they can't create Unreal 2010 with 
four lines of code, MS Paint, and a lot of luck?

Again, thank you all!

Regards,
Nick Evans