Constructionist learning with Sugar and the Beagle Board Bernie Innocenti Sugar Labs Foundation bernie@sugarlabs.org

Outline Early research The Sugar environment Contructionist learning Distinctive technologies Hardware platforms Q&A Hack hack hack! ;-)

A dream? Same Opportunities Access Equity A bright and open future

“Technology is anything that was invented after you were born “Technology is anything that was invented after you were born.” —Alan Kay

Outline Early research The Sugar environment Contructionist learning Distinctive technologies Hardware platforms Q&A Hack hack hack! ;-)

Sugar reinvents the use of computers in education.

Outline Early research The Sugar environment Contructionist learning Distinctive technologies Hardware platforms Q&A Hack hack hack! ;-)

Sugar Sugar is the first serious attempt to create a user interface that is based on both cognitive and social constructivism: learners engage in authentic exploration and collaboration.

Constructionism In short, “we learn by doing”

Sugar's pedagogical base John Dewey Jean Piaget Paulo Freire Seymour Papert Lev Vygotsky Donald Schön Alan Kay

Ban Samhka, Thailand

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Outline Early research The Sugar environment Contructionist learning Distinctive technologies Hardware platforms Q&A Hack hack hack! ;-)

network centric

collaboration Features Benefits collaboration – w or w/o Internet access Benefits peer-to-peer learning always-on support 1-click sharing

collaboration Features Benefits collaboration – w or w/o Internet access Benefits peer-to-peer learning always-on support 1-click sharing

Journal Features Benefits auto-generated journal auto-saved work “portfolio assessment tool place of reflection

Discoverable interface

discovery through exploring, expressing, and sharing web browsing reading chatting playing media playing games word processing reflecting (Journal)‏ creating graphics creating rich media programming

appropriate to appropriate Features everything is free and open Benefits community of support easy to fix and change Transparency is empowering. Free and open source software and content empowers children and their teachers to reshape, reinvent, and reapply.

“View Source” button

Easy to change def _calculate_position(self, radius, icon_size, index, count): width, height = self.box.get_allocation()‏ angle = index * (2 * math.pi / count) - math.pi / 2 x = radius * math.cos(angle) + (width - icon_size) / 2 y = radius * math.sin(angle) + (height - icon_size - style.GRID_CELL_SIZE) / 2 return x, y def _calculate_position(self, radius, icon_size, index, count): width, height = self.box.get_allocation()‏ angle = index * (math.pi / (6 + index / 12)) - math.pi / 2 radius = ((radius - _MIN_RADIUS) * (index * 1.1) / count) + _MIN_RADIUS x = radius * math.cos(angle) + (width - icon_size) / 2 y = radius * math.sin(angle) + (height - icon_size - style.GRID_CELL_SIZE) / 2 return x, y

Sugar's unique technologies Network-centric interface Presence service Easy collaboration, no infrastructure needed Journal interface, datastore engine One-click installable activity bundles Activity isolation 100% free software, based on open standards Easy to change and extend

Sugar Labs A non-profit foundation whose mission is to produce, distribute, and support the use of the Sugar learning platform Supports the community of educators and software developers who want to extend the platform

Sugar Labs Sugar is a community project available under the GNU General Public License (GPL) to anyone who wants to use or extend it.

Outline Early research The Sugar environment Contructionist learning Distinctive technologies Hardware platforms Q&A Hack hack hack! ;-)

Try Sugar on Linux Gentoo Fedora Debian Ubuntu QEMU

Try it on the XO-1

Try it on the Classmate

Try it on the EEE PC

Try it with the “Live USB”

Try it on the Beagle Board!

Current state 0.82 software released 0.84 roadmap being worked on ~400,000 children in ~20 countries use Sugar feedback from educators, students Large community of volunteers Core developers funded by OLPC and Red Hat

Help us make ourselves obsolete ...by providing better learning tools to the next generation of humans.

Thank you Q?

Resources & Contacts Wiki: http://sugarlabs.org/ Mailing lists: lists.sugarlabs.org It's an education project Weekly community news IRC: #sugar on FreeNode