Wi-Fi Woods 85
Mr]-[at writes "School kids in southern England have been given PDAs and pocket radios to track down and record plants and wildlife, as part of the Ambient Wood Project. The feedback has been overwhelming positive."
"The vast majority of successful major crimes against property are perpetrated by individuals abusing positions of trust." -- Lawrence Dalzell
Anything to get the kids interested (Score:2, Insightful)
Sounds ... (Score:2)
Gee (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Gee (Score:2)
Looks like they're already spending too much time in those fields.
Re:A rude poem inspired by the headline (Score:1, Funny)
Quiet I Approach
PDA Logged Bear, Suprised
Wi-Fi Bear Stool Found
Re:A rude poem inspired by the headline (Score:2)
Good for them... (Score:2)
<old man rant="1">
In my day you had to buy scrolls that were 50' long and used your own blood to write out notes, and if you died from blood loss you were a wussie! AND WEEEE LIKED IT!!!
<old man rant="0">
The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive (Score:3, Funny)
Technology can be a distraction. (Score:5, Interesting)
So long as the students learn *something* I see this as valuable.
Re:Technology can be a distraction. (Score:2)
Of course, I can see it working the opposite way:
"Hey! Look at the games on this thing!"
Re:Technology can be a distraction. (Score:2)
Ahhh, to be in college again, playing with all the latest gadgets...
Wait a sec, I'm still in college. I just forgot for a second because at my college they throw us all at several companies. Ah well, guess I've got to wait 'till I'm back in college to enjoy my lovely high-tech tools like Turbo Pascal, Windows NT 4.0 and trying to write SQL in Access '97. Wooo, I really miss my college! I'd quit my shitty college and work at my current intern job full time if it wasn't for the potential of something better
Re:Technology can be a distraction. (Score:2)
Re:Technology can be a distraction. (Score:1)
Now the PHBs have found out and the software is on it's 6th revision, an they want my simple little application to do everything they can get from their computers. They even want a
Kids today.... (Score:4, Funny)
Obl Monty Python... (Score:2, Funny)
Ambient Wood Project !? (Score:3, Funny)
Wasn't that the subtitle of "Bukake Bud's Adventure #12"?
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
What about teachin them some math, physics and ... (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't freakin' believe some shcools are wasting money this midlessly.
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:5, Insightful)
School doesn't have to be long training course for a job.
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:5, Insightful)
I dunno. Technology is cheap relative to the cost of paying teachers, administrators, etc. Like it or not, technology is becoming more and more a part of our world. Pervasive technologies such as 802.11 and PDAs will continue to grow. Giving kids technology like this at a young age will only make them more comfortable with it when they are older.
Just because that's the way school was for you when you were growing up does not mean it has to be that way for kids now. Just because things are different does not mean they are worse.
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:2)
I agree fully. I was 13 before I had a computer at home, a C64 with a tape drive that I bought myself. Now my youngest son tells me that his school (they live with me summers) has a kindergarden computer lab.
Of course, I think my kids are ahead of the curve with computers. They have their own linux box and I take a lit
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:2)
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:2, Funny)
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:3, Informative)
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:3, Insightful)
So you'd have the "technology" teacher, probably with a background in woodwork, saying 'Yes, so this is a spreadsheet. Er, if you had a ny data to process, you'd see how useful it was...'
Meannwhile we're writing down all the results of
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:1, Insightful)
Moreover being able to record data, take it back to the lab, shove it into databases etc, is the starting point for some interesting ecological logging work.
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:2)
The last time I "did science" with a group of kids, we gathered data in the field, then analysed it in the classroom (using math of the statistical persuasion to do so). PDAs reporting back to base station are being used by scientists today, so the kids are getting a taste of the real thing.
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:2)
Ten years ago everyone though that desktop computers and networks are unnecessary and kids should write with pencils and go to the library for information. Today we understand that it was stupid to think so, but some people now claim that PDAs and WiFi are useless.
I am sure that in 2015 another melted will grumble at children using their computer-to-brain interfaces and memory im
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:1)
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:1)
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:2)
I think that you will learn about materials, structures and their mechanical strength better through some (of course) real-life experience, some books (e-books are just fine) and a liberal dose of Ponti [chroniclogic.com]
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:1)
Instead of... biology? (Score:2)
Frankly, I can't think of a much better way to encourage kids to "understand the world better" than by getting them out in it and teaching them to make accurate observations. It certainly would get them off on the right foot in any science-based career.
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:2)
Valuable life lesson: When push comes to shove, technology counts for jack. Sure, it's drastic. But I can't think of any other way to drive the lesson home.
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:1)
Oh well. The agle my desk is, at least he can't see me spending all morning on
Re:What about teachin them some math, physics and (Score:1)
I've been interviewing teachers for a project I'm working on. Much to many teachers' frustration, it's often the parents who insist on ineffective teaching techniques. ("If it's not hard and unpleasant, then they can't be learning anything.") As a result, the best opportunities for learning are missing from most classrooms.
The phrase "giving them some real knowledge and skills" indicates a common but misguided understanding of how people learn. You can't unzip a kid's head, pour in some knowledge from
hmm (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:hmm (Score:2)
The teachers already know about #1 and #2. Kids don't.
Re:hmm (Score:3, Insightful)
One of the reasons for using the PDAs and wireless networks was that the kids were getting feedback - the identifications and extra information were uploaded to their PDAs. Walkie talkies and notepads would have worked as far as reporting their info, but would have been less useful for feedback.
Give them some digital cameras and GPS too. (Score:4, Informative)
Adminsitrators with the purse strings really eat that kind of thing up and it would go a long way towards justifing the expense.
A GPS unit with each child could allow the teacher with a laptop at their base to actually see where they are at all times.
Damn, why couldn't classes have been this cool when I was a youngun?
Re:Give them some digital cameras and GPS too. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Give them some digital cameras and GPS too. (Score:1)
I don't begrudge the kids having all these cool toys, but other people need them too.
The object of the hunt the snark game is... (Score:5, Funny)
Didn't they use LSD for that in the 70s?
Waaaaaaah! I want to be a kid again! (Score:3, Funny)
faculty member (Score:2, Informative)
The main problem I see with this experiment is that it makes the assumption that the kids will be more productive/learn more when placed in this tech ambient environment. But won't kids be just as productive if you just place them in the woods by itself? I remember when I was younger, we would love going on trips that put us outside, out of the classroom, and no ambient tech was
Well, the only difference is... (Score:2)
They're also getting instant feedback on an identification and more information about the plant/animal they reported.
A major advantage of this is that they can get this information while still looking at the plant. This both helps connect the plant with its identification in their mind and means that if specific info is needed to determine the ID, they can do it right away.
Making the correct observations in order to try and identify something back in the lab
Re:faculty member (Score:1)
Bears? (Score:1)
Yeah...what kind of plants? (Score:1)
Hufflepuff (Score:1)