[gcompris-devel] Bruno goes Brazil

[Bruno Coudoin]

Le mardi 12 octobre 2010 à 16:48 +0800, julien forgeat a écrit :
> On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 4:37 PM, Fionn Ziegler <fionnziegler at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Tue, Oct 12, 2010 at 12:56 AM, Bruno Coudoin
> > <bruno.coudoin at gcompris.net> wrote:
> >> Le lundi 11 octobre 2010 à 15:27 +0200, Fionn Ziegler a écrit :
> >>> Have a nice trip!!
> >>> By the way: whats happened to the draw-chat-add-on? Did you receive
> >>> it?
> >>
> >> Yes, I got it but did not checked yet. I am focussed on the wiktionary
> >> to xml work. So far I have been able to get some results there:
> >> http://gcompris.net/wiki/Wiktionary_to_XML
> >>
> >> Anyway, I will integrate your work before the next release.
> >>
> >>> Currently I am working on a small game in GCompris: A bad guy
> >>> (something like a thief) is throwing trash from the top of the screen
> >>> and the child must control a bin to catch the falling trash :-) Its
> >>> quite funny. The child is training reaction, coordination (left/right)
> >>> and throwing the trash into the bin (not in the street)!
> >>
> >> Hum, I am not a teacher but I feel the educational purpose is too small
> >> for GCompris. This kind of training reaction is the basis of most games
> >> and I don't see the value to have this in GCompris.
> >>
> >> Other advices ?
> >
> > I have been 1 year in a "third-world" country. I think it's a good way
> > avoiding the children to throw the trash in the environment (the
> > game-screen backgrounds are from the street, beach, river.......).
> > Also had a lot handicapped children, they don't are able to play the
> > "advanced" games. Even 1+1 is too much nor spell their own name. Maybe
> > you can call it "environmental education"
> >
> > But if you really think it's not fitting, please tell me...
> >
> 
> Living in China, I can also comment on the fact that properly taking
> care of your trash is not something that comes as a reflex for
> everybody but to be honest and fair, I can see quite some trash in the
> streets in Europe too.
> How about making the game a bit more advanced with several bins, one
> for paper, one for glass and so on? Also, some trash could create more
> damage than others (throwing away a watch battery is more serious than
> throwing away a piece of paper) It would be interesting to teach young
> kids that all trash are not equal and need to be sorted accordingly.


I like the recycling concept. This is something that can be appreciated
in countries that have a system in place. Sadly, there is no standard
for the color code (paper is blue bin, ...) so we have to forgot trying
to be close to the reality.

By the way, the same activity could be used in some very different way.
Form example, the bins are written a number on them and operation are
falling like 1+3. Once we will have a dictionary database, we could have
falling words and a 'verb' and 'noun' bin.

What I don't like much in this is that its time limited by nature and it
is hard to fine tune. In some places, GCompris is used with disabled
children were the time constraint is not acceptable.

So instead of having a falling object style with a moving bin, another
option is to drag and drop object in the proper bin. It is less 'gaming'
but playable by all and more in the spirit of GCompris.

This is just my thoughts in no definitive order.

Fionn, what do you think ?

Bruno.