[gcompris-devel] More commits :)

[Olivier Samyn]

Hi,

> > The purpose of this board will simply be to connect two columns of
> > circle with lines... but the columns will have some text attached...
> > 
> > My sister who's a teacher use something like this to teach maths. For
> > example a typical board will be:
> > 
> > 2x3 o  o 6
> > 3x3 o  o 15
> > 5x3 o  o 9
> > 
> > And the player will have to connect the good result with the good
> > operation like (ascii art isn't easy :( ):
> > 
> > 2x3 o-----o 6
> > 3x3 o-- --o 15
> > 5x3 o--X--o 9
> > 
> > Also my sister doesn't correct the result immediately, she says:
> > "You made one, two,... error(s) let's take a look at the book/reference
> > and try to correct yourself."
> > 
> > Then the kid take his book, make some search and try to correct his
> > sheet. 
> > 
> > This procees loops until there are no more errors...
> > 
> > This seems simple, but for a teache with 20 kids it can become verry
> > hard to correct all copies.
> > 
> > So I'll try to implement something like this in gcompris. With a
> > reference dialog that will popup when the kid made a mistake... and this
> > dialog will contain the reference for the game...
> > 
> > For now the plugin contains two circle and a line that will one day
> > connect the two :)
> > 
> > Any sugggest is welcome !
> 
> OK, basically, this is a quizz like problem. You can put any kind of
> data, math, history, french, ... and you can use it.
> I'am sorry to tell you that I don't like it too much because the
> computer is useless, you can do the same on paper like your sister is
> doing currently. What I like in gcompris or eduapps is when it really
> uses the dynamic behaviour of the computer to teach differently. It
> should be another oportunity for someone to learn something he/she
> didn't get with the traditional aproach.
> 
> The goal is not to mimic what teachers are doing well on paper and this
> for the last thousand years but to complement a training.
> 
> For example, have a look here for some example :
> http://lsm.abul.org/~abuledu/Maternelle_Linux_011210/doc/
> Then click 'Jeux'
> 
> Bruno.
> 
> 

First, I  just will say it's a first idea of implementation and it's
more to learn the use of gnome-canvas than to create a real game..

But, the concept can maybe be usefull so, it seems I didn't spoke about
the  computer added value...

connecting circles with lines is very well done by paper... 
But here there's another goal than connecting circles:
The kid have to correct himself his errors. To do this, he have to
consult some reference. So the board will give him some reference and
let him retry the board.

My sister does it already with paper but... she give 3 sheets exercises
to each kid... after a while she collects all papers and correct them.
Then she have to redistribute the sheets and let the kids trying to
correct their errors... then she collect again the sheets... and do this
until there are no more errors...

what we must know is that one iteration of this process takes about 1 or
two days... example:
she gives the sheets on monday and let the kids try to resolve the
problems... then she collect the sheets.
after his work she correct the sheets and given them back on tuesday...
then the kids have some time...
For some kids she have to correct 5 times the sheet -> more than one
week to learn something.

Also, if she don't have time after his work to do the correction, the
net itration is reported...

Finally, the kids have to correct on the same sheet... so they use
different colors to connect the circles... and after 3 iterations it
becomes hard to follow one line...

So, my goal was to improve this process by reducing the teaching time
(automatic correction) and by improving the readability of the problem.
And therefor the computer is a good solution.

Now, I don't already spoke with my sister about this... so she maybe
have some usefull suggests...

Again, I just took this idea because asking gnome canvas to draw circles
and lines is easy... and so can I quickly implement something to test
the python bingings... but I hope it can become something usefull and
it'll add something to the traditionnal paper approach.

-- 
Olivier Samyn <osamyn at ulb.ac.be>