Laura Johnson

> What has been interesting to me is to notice that Jayn will sometimes
> deliberately click on the wrong answer, evidently to see what will happen.
> Maybe she is just checking herself. Sometimes she does the "wrong" thing
> because it produces something absurd and funny to her.
>

That's funny, when I was in a class on educational software design (a side
tangent I started and never finished) that was one of the things we had to
evaluate software on, whether the wrong answer produces a better screen
reaction than the right one. One of the games had a little bell for the
correct answer and a dragon would come out and breathe fire for the wrong
one. Which one would you pick? I watched a group of kids playing it and
some kids would always pick the wrong answer just to see the dragon. Others
would choose the right answer no matter what. It was interesting to watch.

Ben likes to play this Shrek phonics game and I can't figure out why. It
seems so repetitive. I'm not sure he has learned any phonics from it, which
is fine with me, but he likes it for some reason. I'm trying to find another
Shrek game that maybe has something a little more involved. I think it is
the characters he finds appealing. He really likes those adventure games
like Freddi the Fish, Putt Putt and Pajama Sam series.

We were given software that was definitely an electronic workbook. One of
them even graded that page with red checks or x's. Ick.
His new favorite thing to do is go on websites. He thinks that everything
has a website with games and activities. "mom, take me to dragons.com or
volcanoes.com". Now he wants to make his own website. Luckily, I'm taking
an HTML class at the community college, so I will be able to help him make
one.
Laura J

catherine aceto

One of the Reader Rabbit games that lydia likes has a parrot that pronounces words -- you're supposed to select the letters so that it will make actual words, but since the parrot will say anythign that you select, Lydia always selects the combination that will make the funniest sound. I admired the programming choice to make (for *its* purpose) the wrong selection is as useful in learning what letter make what sounds as the "right" answer. Of course, Lydia's purpose is fun - and the wrong answer is even more useful for that.




----- Original Message -----
From: Laura Johnson
To: [email protected]
Sent: Sunday, October 03, 2004 10:34 AM
Subject: Re: [UnschoolingDiscussion] re: software was...math


. Sometimes she does the "wrong" thing
> because it produces something absurd and funny to her.
>

That's funny, when I was in a class on educational software design (a side
tangent I started and never finished) that was one of the things we had to
evaluate software on, whether the wrong answer produces a better screen
reaction than the right one.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

[email protected]

In a message dated 10/3/04 8:31:07 AM, lauraj2@... writes:

<< That's funny, when I was in a class on educational software design (a side
tangent I started and never finished) that was one of the things we had to
evaluate software on, whether the wrong answer produces a better screen
reaction than the right one. One of the games had a little bell for the
correct answer and a dragon would come out and breathe fire for the wrong
one. Which one would you pick? >>

Did they discuss in that class the purpose of the games? If a child can
choose a wrong answer to see a dragon, the child still knows what the right answer
is.

When my boys were reciting the pool rules wrong, after swim lessons years
ago, I still knew they knew the rules. "Never swim with a buddy, always swim
alone; always swim in a storm; always run by the pool..."

<<He really likes those adventure games
like Freddi the Fish, Putt Putt and Pajama Sam series.>>

Holly still plays Putt Putt sometimes.

Sandra