Waveplace Blog

Hello everyone,

We're pleased to announce that Waveplace has been accepted as a presenter at this year's Squeakfest USA in Los Angeles, California on August 10,11,12. We're also helping with the three-day kids workshop (see below).

Squeakfest is a wonderful place to learn and share experiences regarding Squeak Etoys and other educational technology. I strongly suggest that you attend, if you can. They've also extended the deadline for submission of presentations, since they've added a new track to the conference.

To learn more: squeakfest.org

To register: squeakfest.org/usa/register

To submit a presentation: squeakfest.org/usa/submit

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Here's more information from their website:

Squeakfest USA

For the 6th Annual Squeakfest, we're coming home to Los Angeles, the birthplace of Squeak Etoys. Created by Viewpoint Research Institute in nearby Glendale, Etoys is now used throughout the world.

The theme for this year's conference will be "Etoys in the classroom." We'll show how teachers are using Etoys to teach their full curriculum. Whether language arts, math, science, or social studies, Etoys helps teachers demonstrate abstract ideas easily.

Student/Teacher Workshops

Our first session on August 10th will be a hands-on workshop for teachers new to Etoys. Teachers will receive their own "Etoys To Go" USB drive, along with printed Etoys training materials.

To showcase classroom use, we'll then start a three-day workshop with local children. Teachers will be able to sit and work with the students, learning both Etoys and how to teach with it.

Presentations and Keynote

As in past Squeakfests, we've invited people from around the world to give presentations, allowing attendees to sample the breadth of Etoys use.

We're also very pleased to have Alan Kay as our keynote speaker. If you've seen Alan speak, you already know what a treat this will be.

Group Discussion

Aside from the workshops and presentations, the real magic of Etoys happens face to face. Whether talking at dinner or brainstorming in a group, it's the Etoys community that shines brightest. Nowhere is the more apparent than each year at Squeakfest.

Just got back our first photos from our newest pilot in Haiti at Pitite Riviere De Nippes. Twenty children, six adults. More to come....

(by Timothy Falconer, from newsletter) Things have been relatively slow at Waveplace since our awards extravaganza last October. This is due partly to the economic downturn, and partly because I've been busy starting a new organization with a similar mission as Waveplace. Squeakland Foundation is devoted to Etoys use worldwide, not just the Caribbean. It's a spin-off organization from Viewpoints Research Institute, the creators of Etoys. We've been busy improving the Etoys software and creating new courseware, along with planning two Etoys conferences this summer, one in Brasil and one in Los Angeles. Waveplace will be presenting at both conferences....

(by William Stelzer, from newsletter) One thing one learns very quickly in Haiti, is not to take anything for granted. And to treasure every success, no matter how simple. So as we stood by for the first Annual Waveplace Awards webcast, at the Visa Lodge hotel in Port au Prince, there was something wonderful about watching the kids just enjoy free time their laptops. Some took pictures of each other, while others created music. A few kids were even off and running with eToys. Nobody seemed to mind the delay from the technical problems of connecting four countries simultaneously. In...

Nice blog post about Waveplace on a Polish blog. Read it in translated English or original Polish....

(by Adam Todd, from newsletter) Imagine for a moment a small school in a small town on the outskirts of one of the smallest cities in the poorest country in Central America. Imagine a school without electricity or running water, windows without screens or glass, roofs littered with holes and areas that have collapsed, tables and chairs that are virtually falling apart. With all of this in mind, we couldn't have thought of a better place to run the first Waveplace pilot in Central America. Only an XO would be versatile enough to adapt to these conditions and allow children...

(by Mary Scotti, from newsletter) Wendy Garcia of Nicaragua was awarded the first Seymour Award bestowed by the Waveplace Foundation and we are proud. Her family is rightly proud. Buenos Aires school and Campo Alegria are proud. Her classmates are too. Wendy joined our pilot a few days into it and spent time catching up. Her first day she had figured out how to spin out stars and patterns of such intricacy with the pen tool that they mesmerized her peers. Geovany praised her abilities. "She is so smart! She just gets it." The principle nodded his recognition. Demonstrating to...

(by Christa Crehan, from newsletter) What a privilege it has been to be involved in this Waveplace extravaganza! I just finished watching the Waveplace Awards video. What an amazing accomplishment for all of the children. Watching them combine computer programming and storytelling to create their final storybooks was the best gift from this experience. All children have something important to give and it is up to the adults around them to guide them and show them they can accomplish anything they want. Maria (winner of Best Artwork) and Eric (winner of Best Scripting) began the program with trepidation. What they...

The president-elect's new website asks everyone to "tell us your vision for the country." Here's what I submitted: Transform everything by teaching our children to be creative problem solvers, not through a broken education system that teaches compliance and deficiency, but through a new spirit of guided discovery with mentors devoted to kindling the spark within each child, so they may feel their own promise. This is truly the lever that will change everything, given a chance. When children learn to question, when they're taught confidence to solve problems with creativity, their lives become stories of opportunity and discovery....

Just posted the one-hour Waveplace Awards video, which includes the winners and all twelve children reading their storybooks. http://waveplace.com/awards/ You can either watch the full hour from that page, or choose chapter-by-chapter from the list below the video box. Once watching a chapter, click "next" to view the next chapter. If you just want to know the winners, click the "Award Presentations" chapter. Thanks once again to the many who participated....