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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA
NEWSLETTER -- 1993
~~~~~ TI-101 ~~~~~
OUR 4/A UNIVERSITY
by Jack Sughrue
Box 459
E.Douglas MA 01516
#4 ROOTS
Last session, Class, we had a
couple questions from Mr.^Shakespeare
over there by the window. He said he
had a nephew in junior high and two
elementary school grandchildren.
Okay. Okay, Mr.^Shakespeare.
Just put your grandchildren's
pictures away. So long as we know
one's 8 and one's 4 and that your
nephew in junior high is having
trouble reading.
Got that, Class.
He wants to know what the TI can
do for him. Or, more specifically,
for the significant kiddies in his
life.
There are so many directions one
can go here that I'm not sure where
to begin. Because I'm so text
oriented, I think I'll begin with
some sources that may not be dried up
yet. There are real books like Fred
D'Ignazio's TI PLAYGROUND, which I'll
discuss during another class. But,
first, I want to discuss Newsletter
Childrenware.
Zounds, Mr.^Shakespeare! Just be
patient. I'm sure I'll answer your
questions before you even have to ask
them.
Now.
Er, oh, yes; the newsletters.
There were so many great
newsletters over the years that
provided good, solid, educational
material in so many enterprising ways
- ways that let the adults learn
along by typing in the programs. It
would be impossible to even list them
all on the blackboard here.
Let me just take a super example
and hope that her materials are still
on disk in the club's library for new
massive circulation.
Sue Harper (the present librarian
of the Pittsburgh User Group,
P.O.^Box 8043, Pittsburgh PA 15216)
for years wrote a wonderful column
called "Kiddie Corner" (note she
didn't succumb to the temptation to
misspell "Corner" with a "K") and
reviewed material for young (and old)
learners. Sometimes the older
learners could type the programs for
the younger learners.
Although I never met Sue, I have
been an admirer of her creativity and
writing talent for years.
Anyway, Class, while I was
preparing some notes I uncovered some
of the old "PUG Peripheral"
newsletters and want to share a bit
of a Fall '89 issue (when her son was
9 and daughter 11):
"This month, since we are all
getting back into the swing of things
with school, I thought I would give
you a little quiz. Yes, indeed, you
can tell I used to be a school
teacher! Really, it's not a hard
quiz; it's a take-home (for sure) and
you have a month to do it! Just five
questions, and then a little program
to amuse you until next month, when I
will give you the answers!
^^1. Write a program that will
make the screen blink the colors of
fall.
^^2. Write a program that will
play 'Mary Had a Little Lamb.' I'll
help you on that one - the notes are
A,B,A,G,F,G,A.
^^3. Write a program that will
make your name blink on and off until
you use FCTN 4 to stop it.
^^4. Write a program that will
turn your name red and make the
screen blue.
^^5. Take all the programs 1
through 4 and make one long program
that blinks fall colors, plays the
little song, and blink a red name on
a blue screen.
GOOD LUCK!
10 CALL CLEAR
20 FOR H=1 TO 10
30 RANDOMIZE
40 LET R=INT(RND*32)+32
50 LET S=INT(RND*14)+3
60 CALL SCREEN(S)
70 CALL HCHAR(12,12,R)
80 CALL KEY(0,K,S)
90 IF S=0 THEN 100 ELSE 80
100 NEXT H
110 PRINT "PEACHY-KEEN!!!!" : : :
: : :
120 STOP
"This little program ... well,
what will it do? Try it and see!
"See you next month!"
Now this short "Kiddie Corner"
article is filled with the stuff of
learning. First, Class, it made me
go back and dig out a couple manuals
to solve those five small problems of
hers. Very enticing, very
educational little problems. Suffice
it to say that previous columns of
hers led up to skills levels that
could achieve these creative
extensions. These are real, relevant
logic problems for any age. They
also include things that younger
children must know for a solution
even if parents, grandparents, or
older siblings are typing some things
in (i.e., What ARE the colors of
fall? How does the song go?).
And then that tiny program you
have to type in to see what it is
supposed to do. I modified it
slightly upon the suggestion of
Harold Hoyt of the St.Louis TI user
group. But is that program a
motivator or what?
And the safety net of all the
answers next month. But could anyone
wait a full month. Nope! This is a
true leaning situation for everyone,
including those who DO wait the
month and type in all the answer
programs. However, if you don't wait
the month your correct answers are
guaranteed to be different from hers.
Thus, Lesson Uno: there are many ways
to skin a cat.
Although why one would actually
WANT to skin a cat has always been
beyond me. What does one DO with a
skinned cat? Do you use the skinless
cat part or the skin itself? Or
both?
Anyway, Class, the point does not
have anything to do with cats; the
point has to do with the great
learning tool called the 99/4A.
Sue Harper is only one of many
people throughout the whole TI World
who wrote excellent early-learner
articles.
If every newsletter editor and
every librarian in the country looked
back in the old issues and disks and
tapes and dug out the old programs
and articles written by club members
about education or for young people
and transferred them all to disk for
an educational clearinghouse, there
would be piles of materials which
would constitute a marvelous resource
for all clubs, particularly as the
new generation of grandchildren,
nephews and nieces are arriving at
the right ages for using these
services. Remember, Mr.^Shakespeare,
and all the rest of you who have
questions similar to his, that what
may be old stuff for oldtimers is new
stuff for newtimers.
You may quote me.
But let's get back to Sue Harper.
I hope she has all her stuff on disk.
Anyway, she always began her
column with a nice graphic (teddy
bear in the case mentioned). This
was at a time when not too many
newsletters used graphics for their
local columns.
Sue also did program reviews, as
I said, that dealt with learning.
These were all excellent, too. For
example, in this same '89 issue, she
reviewed Jim Peterson's
"KINDERTIMES," which I have had the
good fortune to use with some younger
children with much success.
Here's Sue:
"This program, listed as TCX-1062
on the disk ... is a very nice little
program which uses only 12 sectors,
and yet has quite a bit to offer.
"The main audience for this
program would be third graders
learning their multiplication tables,
or for a review for the next few
grades. The program will accept
parameters higher than one digit
numbers, but working these problems
in your head becomes difficult.
"At the beginning, the program
asks the user for the highest number
desired and the lowest number
desired. These two answers set the
parameters for the multiplicands.
The format of the program is:
7 X 6 =
and waits for the answer. The
answer must be typed in with the
highest digit first, which is why I
say this program is not suited for
'hard' questions like 167 X 639. In
the 7 X 6 example, the user types in
42 and presses ENTER. The user is
rewarded with a graphics display for
correct answers."
And so on.
Actually, Jim (TIGERCUB) has
upgraded this program. He even has a
nice, new program that prints out
simple worksheets (with answers on a
separate sheet). Ideal for any adult
who spends time helping children with
math. Refer to your notes from
previous classes to learn more about
this extraordinary (and
extraordinarily inexpensive) resource
called TIGERCUB.
These rich resources of
newsletter and disk and tape
libraries of clubs throughout the
country are some of the very best
sources all of you can use for
learners even in today's "high-tech
wizardry" marketplace. The TI STILL
does what it was made to do better
than anybody else.
No, Mr.^Shakespeare, I am not
going to give you or Ms.^Bronte or
anyone else in the class the answers
to Sue's five problems. That is
homework for next class.
Please, please, Class! Give me
your attention! Stop that moaning
and groaning back there! These five
questions will be on the mid-term, so
I would definitely have them ready
for the next class.
Yes, yes. There were many other
people who did such articles for
newsletters and magazines. I
remember Chick De Marti of the Los
Angeles Group often had similar
fascinating items in his "Did You
Know That...?" column. I wonder if
he has all those great columns on
disk?
And Fred D'Ignazio ran a regular
children's column in COMPUTE, I
think. Anyway, TI PLAYGROUND is one
of his tested for-and-by-kids program
books.
Maybe next class I'll do nothing
but educational books, like my
favorite, THE ACADEMIC TI.
Meanwhile, do your homework and
maybe you can reach Sue or Chick for
extra-credit material.
The software, Mr.^Bell? We'll
get to the tapes and cartridges
during another session, right after
we finish discussing the rest of the
textware. What? The SYLLABUS,
Mr.^Bell. Must follow the syllabus.
No, Mr.^Shakespeare, a syllabus
is not like a hexbus. Perhaps if
you'd care to walk out with me to my
car, I'll explain the differences on
my way.