S C A L E First Artificial Life Weekend November 5-6, 1993

_{On way up Friday, November 5, 1993 - with Mitch Resnick and Greg Kimberly:}

_{Addressed issue of teaching ethics in elementary school. Mitch felt that when they have their own concrete problems -- e.g. others stealing their codes or reading their files, then the ethical problems can be taught. Otherwise it is too abstract and it wont work.}

_{Video made a few years ago -- Don't Copy that Floppy.}

_{Papert would be coming with Kay project of BH, Westwood, Open School. Dewdney later this month.}

_{For seminar on Wed:}

_{include Dawkins, Sim Life, Alife video -- Ackley, (Simms, Oppenheimer)}

_{discuss two Resnick papers}

_{Saturday, November 6, 1993}

_{Early discussion with BJ about why they don't understand evolution:}

_{Thesis: the kids have already formed their ideas by late high school. So the need is to teach the concepts earlier, in elementary school. [CT note, it Dobzh nothing in biology makes sense, then this is important]}

_{The goal would be to provide teachers with:}

_{(a) the background so the teachers can get the self-confidence to mix and match as appropriate.}

_{(b) tools that engage students -- especially with movement,}

_{(c) simulations are helpful, mere ideas too abstract.}

_{A parallel is teaching math. Concepts are now being taught early on.}

_{(a) have been hung up on arithmetic. Need to examine problems like how many squares on checkerboard, two pieces of pizza, brain teasers.}

_{(b) learn to hate it early on, so lost.}

_{Biology is taught in Soph/Jr year. CT when evolution?}

_{Important to see it in reality. Pond water, can talk about these things all you want. What is important is that they can see it under the scope.}

_{Evolution is difficult because they cannot see it.}

_{Should we look at upgrading Blind Watchmaker?}

_{What is ALife? Rik and Chris}

_{What is the traditional biology curriculum in elementary school? BJ and Ralph}

_{What is the MIT Children's machine approach to all this? Mitch + student}

_{The vivarium approach. BJ and Mike}

_{How might Alife help to realize this vision? Rik and Chuck}

_{Draw up some specifications for software to accomplish this. Rik, Mitch}

_{Alife is important because biological ideas are becoming core metaphors for understanding lots of areas (taking over from physics as the core metaphor)}

_{BJ speaking about "Playground" world under the ocean. idea to create ecosystem under the sea. Would be the tool for entering under the world. notion of no pushing, gets messages and reacts.}

_{What would like to see this group doing is to make a language where the kids can make hypotheses and test them. There is nothing like this now. Kids want to have control, best to introduce to elementary school where not stifled yet. How can you bring it to the classroom. [thinks important to have on cheap machines, Mitch stresses how fast things are happening]}

_{Are simulations used? Showing video of Oakland fire, making journalistic accounts.}

_{Ralph- sees tollgate, of teachers world. serious block. Unless the teachers are excited the teachers wont use it. Must create software that the teachers get jazzed about. If that is done, then the kids pick it up like wildfire. If teachers turned off, then it wont.}

_{BJ says principals must give time so the teachers can support one another in taking on new initiative.}

_{Ralph -- whenever he sees something really exciting, it stems from the teacher's excitement. Software must be written for teacher.}

_{Julie- must be careful not to just make it wow. Curriculum must drive technology, not vice versa.}

_{Mitch - if learning is about delivering information, then that approach fine. But learning is more than that.}

_{All types of problems. spend all money on how, rather than workshops. or lean one thing to teach, so all must do same thing.}

_{(How to get kids to be life-long learners if the teachers aren't.) Ability to listen to the thinking of young children. Teachers are generally talkers, rather than listeners.}

_{Why talking is so often prohibited? Who is going to be in charge of the learning? In too many cases it is not the children.}

_{Ralph -- What is taught in elementary school.}

_{Gentleman bringing in snake, show it put it into sack and take it home at end of day. Or pet rabbit hopping about class then back into cage at evening.}

_{Biology or science is just a small part of the day, and special or isolated part. Not central - a very limited experience.}

_{Sees a lot of room for growth there.}

_{on optimistic side, there is room for growth there, but does not see anything exciting to bring it in.}

_{{CT maybe this is the opportunity}}

_{at Buckley, lots of computers (from last year) but don't know how to use them}

_{Science Framework for California Schools: Kindergarten Through Grade Twelve. 1990. Bureau of Publications, Sales Unit, Calif. Dept. of Education, Box 271 Sacramento, 95802. (916) 445-1260. $6.50}

_{Ralph- "idea that noise is antithetical to learning is a scary notion."}

_{Also scary if principal must call on own experience in past to project plan for future.}

_{BJ - in open school idea is that computers not be obvious. computer under desk.}

_{Behavior problems coming from students not being}

_{Ralph - 5 years ago desks bolted to floor, even kindergarten. wanted that last year to show that this is an academically challenging environment.}

_{Greg - recalls trying to get someone for Apple "Do you want to work at Vivarium?" " Yes, and I know exactly the position I want -- first grader."}

_{Assessment of all this is a major issue. How can we argue that this [open] experience is so good? When CSTB is going to test on this rote arithmetic, how can I be doing this other stuff? It is important to change the test, what asking kids to perform, then teachers are more willing to go along with it.}

_{Julie likes a lot -- Biology for Every Kid: 101 Easy Experiments that Really Work. Janice Pratt VanCleave. Wiley.}

_{CT Ralph says he has Science Framework and that I could probably borrow it. Ask of Karen Dallinger -- ask for Kitty Humphry to borrow Science Framework.}

_{Demo by Mike Hamilton, notes on paper that I will add}

_{Demo by Mitch of Micro Worlds and Star Logo on paper I will add}

_{Sunday, November 7, 1993}

_{follow up on BJ, to introductory evolution in an early age}

_{first identify concepts}

_{then make these engaging (Bee crossing blue block)}

_{where are they starting from -- developmental}

_{then try to introduce in some classes}

_{use micro worlds}

_{kids can understand functioning of program}

_{more flexibility for programming}

_{Note emphasis on teacher training}

_{CT use Moore article x CT must send to all here.}

_{to use it where rich way, there is a big start-up time}

_{maybe there are levels to work at it, need not be full-time, even if that were desirable.}

_{maybe good to have rich examples --}

_{a small library of examples}

_{Sim life can be examined for why it doesn't work. No control over it.}

_{does not come down to a level that is understandable by a 7 year old.}

_concepts>

_{variation, mutation, adaptation, selection}

_{BJ To teach -- Don't say what it is she is going to teach}

_{give lots of examples}

_{ask what is similar}

_{discuss what it is}

_{then once sense is developed, go to next step}

_{then tell it is what we have done}

_{We played, had a good time, nobody experienced failure}

_{the core concepts would be:}

_{variation exists}

_{overproduction}

_{only some represented in next generation}

_{(survive, reproduce}

_{leads to progressive change}

_{idea would be to present these concepts, then put together}

_{then maybe relate to organization, culture, artificial, etc.}

_{random numbers assigned to race cars, one always wins}

_{introduce ways of success -- you can be the carnivore, i will be the bottom feeder, etc.}

_{Which single concept to begin with?}

_{Dawkins-type, or let go on own? CT thinks control of kids over their environment is important.}

_{can do variation}

_{themselves, tomatoes in garden}

_{overproduction}

_{earth, ecology, rabbits on screen}

_{only some represented a little harder}

_{important to tie to natural world. Note difference between concrete and natural world.}

_{CT - hard to teach abstract things. Easier if it is concrete. Why evolution is hard is because it is difficult to do experiment.}

_{Mitch - what computers do well is illustrate process. When you do natural experiments you tend to focus on objects.}

_{Rik - want to emphasize distinction phenotype/genotype. CT expressed belief this is too advanced. BJ thinks there are so many small steps, don't want to try too much or will lose it all. OK to have just core idea.}

_{Greg - "Powerful ideas often have powerful abuses"}

_{me, myself, community to 2nd grade, about or 3rd they begin to look at ecosystem. there they get predator/prey and population (overpopulation)}

_{CT ask BJ if competition and variation (races) teaches bad things and race -- don't think it will come up. They get these ideas at home. It may come up, but this wont exacerbate the problem.}

_{Mitch asks should we think further on physical realization of this?}

_{Arabadopsis? too tiny.}

_{Could have each group say what they want to select.}

_{What organism could we use? It is very hard to come up with and example}

_{or do we have to use red blocks, blue blocks for selection.}

_{perhaps this difficulty we have had in this is reflective of the reasons why it has been difficult to teach evolution}

_{Maybe we could have a litter of cats or dogs that is like the Blind watchman screen.}

_{Mike thinks could do this with scanned images of cats or dogs or guinea pigs. Enough is known of genetics. Perhaps photos of mice from JAX, but probably AKC for dogs. Would this be compelling enough? almost certainly yes. Do it with videodisk.}

_{Rik raises issue of behavior, not just morphology.}

_{Mitch -- isn't this more genetics than evolution?}

_{Mike, if short term is genetics, long term evolution.}

_{BJ can we do this with your won family?}

_{Can do family tree, pictures of parents when children? Computers merge. So many don't have both parents, or is sad when adopted and in an awkward situation.}

_{Task for each?}

_{Next step. identify central themes.}

_{Find one thing they talk about at elementary school level.}

_{see about identifying this from the curriculum book.}

_{BJ - See how Blind Watchmaker works in the schools.}

_Follow-up

_{Spoke with people at Logo (800) 321-5646}

_{they said to order Microworlds project builder through one of two places:}

_{Educational Resources 800-624-2926 or}

_{Fastrak 800-9273936}

_{so I did on Nov 9. they said 7-10 working days. $94.00}

_{I spoke with Kitty Humphry. She has the draft for LA Unified, but not the final version. She will send it home with Amy.}

_{I got it, and there is nothing about evolution until grade 5. At that time (and in grade 6) one of the points to teach is:}

_{"Fossils indicate that many species have become extinct and new species have come into being over geologic time"}

_{Outline of meeting}

_{Coarse outline:}

_{Friday PM:}

_{informal discussion, from which it will emerge who we are and what are interest are. What happens will certainly affect the following plan for Saturday.}

_{Perhaps play with some of the software.}

_Saturday:

_{What is ALife?}

_{leaders Rik and Chris}

_{What is the traditional science (esp biology) curriculum in elementary school?}

_{leaders BJ and Ralph}

_{What is the MIT Children's machine approach to all this? Special emphasis on Evologo.}

_{leaders Mitch + student}

_{The vivarium approach.}

_{BJ and Mike}

_{How might Alife help to realize this vision?}

_{Rik and Chuck}

_{Can we draw up some specifications for software to help accomplish this?}

_{Rik and Chris}

_Sunday:

_{Tie up loose ends.}

_{Alife weekend}

_{What is the appropriate AGE distribution for ALife education tools?}

_{Before kids learn the bad stuff!}

_{AL themes}

_{Learning by making things}

_Multimedia

_{Multiple representations is insightful into DIVERSITY of living systems}

_{Visualization vs. modeling}

_{real vs. simulated data}

_{Cf. Hogeweg's ALife paradox}

_{Less mediated education}

_{Not UN-mediated, ala Shank}

_{Education in flux}

_{Home schooling}

_{California's vouchers}

_{Science Adventures}

_{Charter schools}

_GIS

_{Vector vs. raster}

_{Vector better for MAPS, esp. POLITICAL, where BOUNDRIES are real}

_{Raster preferable for NATURAL data sets}

_{Responsibly releasing our models}

_{Immediate personal experience}

_{Social discussion of conclusions}

_{Models aren't (perfectly) accurate}

_{Eg, conclusions from evolutionary models}

_{[Richard Hofstadter: Social Darwinism in America]}

_{Cultural evolution data}

_Television

_{Model(s) for science ed}

_{Currently, (hands-on) Evolution too SLOW a PROCESS to teach}

_{Esp. elementary grades}

_{Kids' development of models}

_{1. Begin with toys, they like to play}

_{2a. Theoretical points later}

_{2b. Unwrapping toys mechanism later}

_{Learning/teaching younger/older tutoring}

_{Used to motivate transition from #1 to #2}

_{Mike's GIS datasets underneath}

_{Simulation/visualization difference}

_{Measurement error}

_{Attaching to Calif framework}

_{(Video gamelike) Competion hook}

_{Build best solutionS to environment}

_{Real environment, with multiple niches}

_{Interdependent species}

_{Recapitulating Darwin's thesis}

_{Artificial selection}

_{ala Blindwatchmaker}

_{Functional forms (programs)}

_{Hands-on: Mustard variation}

_{Malthusian economics}

_{Ecological resource limitation}

_{Rabbit/lettuce}

_{Hands-on: competing for species}

_{Morphology to function}

_{BJ's race car example}

_{Speed initially controlled by random distribution}

_{Mice/guinea pig coat database}

_{Jackson labs}

_{But this is about (only) genetics}

_{Family tree}

_{Naturalizes evolution, to each student}

_{But insensitive to adopted, single parent, ...}

_{Bio-diversity}

_{Central themes}

_Variation

_Selection

_{Fitness tautology}

_{Geno/phenotypic gap}

_{Systemic changes}

_Meta-themes

_Data/models

_{Carey article emphasizes that preexisting intuitions need to be changed gradually. Simply presenting a collection of facts will not do the trick.}

_{Ohlsson I and II indicate that students, when presented with chapters, do not change their intuitions, but simply add additional tools for formulating hypotheses, without regard to consistency.}

_{these indicate to me that simply adding facts is not sufficient, but that we must mold their intuitions with hands-on experiments. Further, it is important to do it early.}

_{The challenge is to mold their intuition. This can possibly be helped with hands-on experience.}

_{but cannot do with real organisms -- time lags too great}

_{can possibly be done with computers.}

_{down side is that these may be too remote}

_{[not we will try with dogs, video disk maybe]}

_{CT gave abelson books, object logo supplement, lego logo book, and lego turtle to Rik Belew to use while at James Res.}

_{Preliminary Outline}

_{WE are disturbed by 40% and 25%}

_{When look to the reason, not so clear (Olhsson).}

_{elaborate on, maybe without saying intuition stuff}

_{Elma with UCLA students}

_{How to deal with this?}

_Carey

_{hands on as opposed to collection of facts}

_{Suggestion is to try to develop intuition before too screwed up.}

_{Do it at early age}

_{Currently not really done. Give plan.}

_{Do it with hands on to develop intuition}

_{How to do hands on?}

_Dawkins

_{just which intuitions?}

_{segmentation, breeding, mutation, randomness, unreachable, enormous possibilities, symmetry, gradually achieving, artificial selection, variation. {is it engaging to children?}, evolution of evolvability {segmented were champion evolvers}}

_Ackely

_Microworld

_{Star logo (?)}

_{What we are likely to try with LA unified and Buckley}

_{Challenge to this group, what are the points to focus on?}

_{i.e. identify concepts}

_{then how to make these engaging?}

_{What games or examples to develop?}

_{End with Simms and Peter Schizenheimer.}

_{Note, that this cognitive explanation can be given with a pitch for cog sci at beginning.}

_{I think the problem with blind watchman may be finder/multifinder, not color display. Try this.}

_Sim-x:

_{earth, city, life, ant}

_{Dawkins Blind watchmaker}

_{New Logo}