[ale] hear, hear for females and Linux!

[Jim Kinney]

Specifically to Susan and Amy, and the ALE group in general,

The skills acquired tinkering with Linux are a big help tinkering with
kids. Susan's note of "hardware problems" vs. "baby cries" as a relevant
training process rings quite true. (I have a newborn boy and decoding the
cries is a complex task). 

As to the point of porting windows games to Linux, another sector that
begs for porting is the educational game software. Specifically, the
titles from Broderbund, which consistently receive high praise for good
teaching tools need porting. Also needed is a good collection of OSS
material for school curricula [sic]. Currently, some of the stuff written
for the school systems is of such poor quality the students get nothing
practical out of using them. A Slashdot writer wrote about the benefits of
teaching Unix in education as opposed to Windows, for the learning aspect
of complex problem solving. As has been pointed out in this thread, given
early exposure to Linux, girls, as well as boys, develop computing skills
early that will set them above the rest of their peers. 

Sorry for the long rant. I teach at the collegiate level and am appalled
at the "thinking skills" most of the students graduate from high school
with.

James Kinney M.S.Physics		jkinney at teller.physics.emory.edu
Educational Technology Specialist	404-727-4734
Department of Physics Emory University	http://teller.physics.emory.edu