Learning Adventure 5: Part 2

Assignment:
Imagine that you will share your data set for InspireData with the world in a form that allows learners or researchers to answer their own questions.

In order to do so, you may need to take action to answer the following questions:
• Is your data set complete enough for users to interrogate the database? In other words, if you constrained the initial database so that you could answer a specific question about one specific election, could more data be added to make the database more flexible? Not every user will have the same interests as you.
• Can you merge multiple databases created by your cadre mates in order to make the database more powerful? You may copy/paste, Append or Import data into an existing InspireData file.
• Would your new and improved database benefit from including notes? You may add notes to the file.
• How else might you embellish your new and improved InspireData file?
We can share the best files with the community of InspireData users, perhaps even officially.

Reaction:
Today, I sat down to complete the endless Learning Adventure 5. Gary asked us to consider the following question to complete this learning adventure:
* Is your data set complete enough for users to interrogate the database? In other words, if you constrained the initial database so that you could answer a specific question about one specific election, could more data be added to make the database more flexible? Not every user will have the same interests as you.
I was thinking with merging two data base sets that are comprehensive and including multiple if not all election years, that in essence I have create a good starting pointing for others to extrapolate out what information he/she needs to decipher. I think by almost adding in a multitude of data sets it could lead to too much information to sort through unless you exported it back into Excel to sort through the information sought after.

I am still trying to discern through InspireData how to sort the fields and label the information I specifically want. I think that through both InspireData which visually demonstrates so the information, it is a good pairing with the original txt files. I am no-data expert yet, but I do think I am feeling more confident about sorting through data and pulling different files of information together.

• Can you merge multiple databases created by your cadre mates in order to make the database more powerful? You may copy/paste, Append or Import data into an existing InspireData file.
I did this with Dan’s comprehensive election file as well as my height and weight comparisons. I think you could even add a set of election data from a specific election to make your set even more robust to a specific election in comparison to all the other elections that have taken place. This would be especially good if one wanted to focus on a specific election with a wide depth of data in comparison to overall trends in elections.

• Would your new and improved database benefit from including notes? You may add notes to the file.
I think the only notes that one would need or find beneficial with the new database would be the original sources used to compile these two sets of data.

• How else might you embellish your new and improved InspireData file?
One way is I suggested above that going beyond merging two comprehensive data bases you could compare them to one specific election with a deep depth of information. So you could in theory compare very specific information within a long period of time. For instance, I could compare the education background of voters in one election with the presidential candidates running for office, in comparison to making some predictions about other races in past elections.

Reflecting on my learning:
(Gary didn’t ask for this specifically, but I was proud of myself so I am sharing that) At first I wasn’t sure what data I wanted to deal with besides my own, and how would I get the data to merge. I haven’t dealt much if at all with data until this learning adventure. To be honest, Excel is one program I have managed to stay away from because I am just not a row and column girl despite my overly Type-A-ness. So, rather than seeking help from my cadremates, I decided to do a little problem solving on my own. How could I take multiple sources of data and merge them into one chart in Inspire data. I thought I could do it through InspireData but through much trial and error, I realized that option wasn’t working for me. I took a break and went to watch my step-son’s soccer game, and while driving home, I had an epiphany of Excel. I could use Excel to import all the data sets into then export it into Inspire Data. WAHOO! I swear there is sometimes no better feeling than figuring things out on your own.

So, I combined my data set since it entailed many years, with Dan’s set of data because his as well was a comprehensive set of years even more so than mine. I saw Dan’s posting and decided to see what I could build off from his. What I learned is that it is okay to struggle with figuring out technology because whether you figure it out yourself or ask others to assist you, you are learning along the way. Like Mihalyi Csíkszentmihályi explains in his notion of flow, that true learning occurs when you are struggling with challenges just beyond your skill set so that you are entering a higher state of concentration and thus learn more. When you are successful, then you are more willing to challenge your self again.

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Learning Adventure 6

Assignment:


Learning Adventure 6 - Quilting in MicroWorlds EX
MicroWorlds EX is a modern multimedia programming environment for learners built upon a version of Logo that allows for parallelism. Using MicroWorlds in this simple project will help bring "The Children's Machine" to life.
Video-based MicroWorlds EX tutorials will be online by mid-day Monday. I'm encoding them as I write this.
There should be manuals in PDF form that accompanied your MicroWorlds EX download. If not, let me know and I'll post them for you.
Also, there is contextual help, online vocabulary (under the help menu), tutorials, techniques and samples within the software.
Of course, you may also ask questions.
This should be a fun simple collaborative project with no threshold and ho ceiling that supports your reading of Papert.
As my colleague and friend Tom Lough signs all of his correspondence...

FD 100

Reaction:

Day One: playing around while grading Senior synthesis essays on Beowulf.
I downloaded Microwords today (actually I had a free copy from Gary’s Constructivist Consortium he put on this summer- lucky for me) and went through the tutorials of geometry. I was pretty diligent in following the step by step procedures and had lots of flashbacks to programming Mr. Bill this summer at Virt Camp. Through the tutorial I could make the box pretty easily but then I noticed I had problems figuring out the measurements across from corner ot corner (Hello- Geometry!) Here is where I started at and you can see it isn’t quite what I was hoping.
Forward 100
right 90
Forward 100
right 90
Forward 100
right 90
forward 100
right 45
right 90
forward 100
forward 25
forward10
forward 10
forward 10
right 135
forward 100

Day Two-Three:

After playing with Microworlds for most of the morning after coming home from church, I had problems initially getting Microworlds to work again on my computer. It seems that I was the problem. Iintially when I used Microworlds the first time, I just went in and played around with things. That worked fine, but then today I was going to get serious and really make something. I opened up the quilt button and nothing would work for me. After talking with Greg about it (thanks Greg), he told me to go back to where I originally played with the turtle.

After making the initial square patch to start with, I looked over the serious programming that Dan and others had put together. WOW I am surrounded by simply amazing people that can figure this stuff out. I just was interested in making more traditional patched and here were these outstanding quilts that others had put together. I guess I get to fall short of success in light of what others have done, but for me, I was happy just getting the turtle to move around and make old fashioned quilt shapes. I learned that all the manuals seem to do for me is give me some basic guidelines but I really do seem to learn better in groups. It reminded me of Virt Camp, Colby started me off with programming the block by showing me some basics in programming and then the manual added a little more information, but after that it was all on my own with some help when I would get stuck. I remember being up late that night and Erin and Brooke finally coming over to assist me seeing as how their Olympic sport was similar to mine.

My programming for this patch quilt is simple as I stated before. I am really impressed more so by those that are in this program. It seems with each adventure, someone really peaks at shows the rest of us the possibilities. I took away from this learning adventure a sense of playfulness and giving myself some time to enjoy the wonder I am surrounded with. In comparison to Situated Learning, I moved towards to apprenticeship side of learning watching other model for me expertise in areas I have yet to fully explore. I learned from those around me and am glad to be part of a program that is so much about the process rather than the product.
My program:

setc "red

repeat 4 [fd 100 rt 90]

setc "red
rt 45
fd 113
bk 113
setc" red
seth o
fd 100
rt 135
repeat
lt 90
fd71.7
lt 90
fd 71.7
seth o
end

Where I am struggling is getting it to repeat without me clicking to make it repeat. Also, I thought I programmed my turtle to return back to the start by programming in the right coordinates (If that is what you call it) but it doesn’t seem to exactly do what I want it to do. I feel like I am always saying that in these reflections. The other thing I am wondering is where do I save my patch to? And how do I save it? Do I just do this like a normal save?

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Learning Adventures with Gary

Learning Adventure 1

Learning Adventure 2

Learning Adventure 3- Suspended

Learning Adventure 4

Learning Adventure 4 Part 2. 1

Learning Adventure 4 Part 2.2

Learning Adventure 5

Learning Adventure 5 Part 2

Learning Adventure 6

Learning Adventure 7

Learning Adventure 8

Learning Adventure 9

Learning Adventure 10

Gary's Famous Responses

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Asus Releases Eee PC 1000h

Asus's latest compact discount notebook incorporates everything from previous models with many notable improvements. It is slightly larger than its predecessors, which makes it easier and more comfortable to use. This model features a 10-inch screen with a native resolution of 1024x600, a necessary improvement on the 901's 8.9-inch. Also, the keyboard is much larger, almost as big as generic notebooks, which is intended to be more comfortable than the previous models. It weighs in at only 3.6lbs, a bit heavier than the ultra-lightweight 900 but still light relative to standard notebooks.

The Eee PC 1000h features the smallest transistors in the world. The 45nm transistor technology is designed to reduce power usage and heat output without sacrificing performance. Battery life ranges from 3.2-7 hours. The processor runs at a native frequency of 1.6GHz, and built-in power management can increase it to 1.7GHz. It comes with 1GB of DDR2 RAM (supports up to 2GB) and a 80 or 160GB hard drive. The Eee PC 1000h is powerful enough to utilize the high speed Wi-Fi 802.11n that is standard for this model.

The Eee's name comes from its slogan: "easy to learn, easy to work, easy to play," thus the 1000h is designed to be as easy as possible. It comes with Windows XP Home and Microsoft Works. It has a built-in 1.3 megapixel webcam and bluetooth, and the software is already setup and ready to use. For security, the 1000h comes with anti-virus software and 10GB of file-encrypted storage. The Eee PC 1000h comes with a one-year limited warranty. This
notebook is designed for someone with a budget and basic needs, and is priced at a very reasonable $649.

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New MacBook Pro, MacBook, and MacBook Air Released By Apple

It looks like the rumors were true that Apple will be releasing a whole new line of laptops. We know they are true becasue that time is upon us. The first thing you might notice when looking at their new line of laptops is.. well they look almost exactly the same. Most of the changes are under the hood, but one thing that has changed is Apples new laptops are all formed from a single block of aluminum. The new aluminum body is lighter and stronger than the previous body and frame. Also a new GPU has been integrated into all the new laptops. The new GPU is the 9400M and Apple promises that the new GPU is 5 times faster than its last Intel integrated graphics chipset. Here is a full list of specs for each laptop.

MacBook Pro Specs
Starting Price- $1,999
2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
15.4” LED-blacklit display
2 GB 1066MHZ DDR3 RAM
9400M Integrated / 9600M GT Dedicated 256MB
250GB HHD



MacBook Air Specs
Starting Price - $1,799
13.3” LED-backlit display
9400M Integrated Graphics
2GB 1006 MHz DDR3 RAM
120GB Sata Hard Drive
1.6GHz Intel Core 2 Duo



MacBook Specs
Starting Price - $1,299
13.3” LED-backlit display
2GB 1066MHz DDR3 RAM
9400M Integrated Graphics
160GB Hard Drive
2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo

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Polling to establish background knowledge

With the start of Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, I always enjoy the beginning conversations watching my students grasp that the predictions Bradbury made in 1953 have come true in our society today. Throughout the unit, I turn over the learning to the fishbowl method in our classrooms where students lead the discussions. We are focusing on building on the question “What does it take to challenge the system” with our previous readings of Macbeth and Lord of the Flies.

This year I started things a little differently. First, I showed them Michael Wesch’s “The Machine is Using Us”. We had an excellent conversation about technology and human connection. At one point, we even Skyped in my graduate school professor Dr. Margaret Riel, Gary wasn’t on Skype so I couldn’t bring him in. My students really questioned the web making us redefine what family is.

The following day, before we read Kurt Vonnegut’s “Harrison Bergeron”, I used Polleverywhere.com to create an in-class texting poll asking them to submit their answers to the following questions. The paired up in class with one other student who had free, unlimited texting and then once I put up the poll question, they text in their answer, after discussing the possibilities together. It was AWESOME! The twosome discussed their answer, then we took sides in class. I had one participant be the voice of the yes, no, or maybe on each question presenting their case, and then opened it up to the entire class for discussion. They were so into it, it was challenging to bring them back to move onto the next question. Talk about motivated learners.

Here are some sample questions in the poll format:
Poll 1
Poll2
Poll3
Poll4

Also, here are all of the questions that I turned into the poll. What is great about the poll is that not everyone has to have a cell phone. Kids can also use their laptops to answer the questions. The polls can be embedded into blogs or simply downloaded as PowerPoint slides. There is a limit to the number of people who can complete the poll in order for the poll to be free, but pairing kids up, gives them a chance to discuss their ideas before presenting to the class their viewpoints. Kids who normally do not say much in class, were jumping into the conversation when we used the polling program.

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Laptop Gaming Video cards

Today gaming on a laptop has become possible at a reasonable price due to increase in gaming itself and the fact that prices have significantly dropped on laptop parts as laptops become more popular and mainstream. Today most mainstream laptops come with enough RAM and a good enough CPU to handle just about any game you throw at it, but the real issue when it comes to gaming on a laptop comes with what Video Card is inside your laptop. A Video Card is really only important when it comes to gaming, it is what makes all your games look truly beautiful and run at a crisp clean pace with no hiccups. Today though there is such a large amount of Video Cards out there that it is really hard to figure out what to expect when you buy a laptop with a certain video card. Well in this post here I hope I can at the very least give you a broad idea of what to expect out of your gaming laptop when it comes to performance in terms of playable games and frame rates.

For starters when looking at a gaming laptop make you are going to have to expect a few things. First is increase in price and size. A gaming laptop will normally weigh upwards of 11+ pounds and costs usually at least $1000. If you do not feel like spending a thousand dollars on a laptop all I can say for you is buy a desktop instead because they are just so much cheaper than laptops, but you will obviously not see the same portability as a laptop. Ok another thing to make sure to look for when buying a gaming laptop is make sure the laptop has 2-4GB of RAM, 2.0Ghz and up processor and preferably a 17” screen so you do not feel cramped when playing. The last rule is the most important and must be obeyed if you are going to game on a laptop and that is make sure it has a dedicated graphics card. If the graphics card is not listed on the spec sheet then more than likely it is crap and not worth buying, also if you see integrated or Xpress it is not a dedicated graphics card. If your computer does not have a dedicated graphics card it means that your graphics card is built into the motherboard and it is junk and you will not be able to play any new games at all on your computer.

Ok now that we have that cleared up lets look at graphics cards. Before I start if you are looking at a computer and you know the name of the Graphic Card, but do not know much about it then I highly recommend that you look at this mobile graphics benchmark chart. The chart will tell you where your card places against every other mobile graphic card and will also put it into a broad category so you can get a good idea of what game quality to expect. Of course if you want the best laptop out there to play games on then you have to go with the alienware laptops. Alienware makes there laptops specifically for gaming and they are extremely good at what they were built for. The costs of an alienware laptop usually averages around $1500-$4000. Now most people do not have that type of money to spend on a laptop. Most people buy usually a dell, hp, gateway, or Apple laptop. Most of these brands use the same video cards over and over again so it is usually pretty easy to find some good specs on the video card in the laptop you are looking at. The two most widely used video cards that I have sound is the 8400M GS and the 8600M GT. The fact is the 8400M GS is junk I would not recommend buying the card for any games at all, but the 8600M GT is a different story. Expect to be able to play games like Company of Heroes, Fear, and Supreme Commander fluently on High Details with this card. Do not expect miracles out of this card though, you will not be able to play heavy graphics oriented games on max settings and will probably end up settling somewhere around medium settings. If you are looking for a better alternative to the 8600M GT then I would recommend any of the 8700 and 8800 series any of the 9700 series and 9800 series. The main thing you want to remember doing when looking for a gaming laptop is when you find a laptop you like make sure to find multiple opinions on the laptop and also multiple opinions on the video card. Hope this article helps you choose the right laptop for you, if you are still having some problems feel free to leave a comment and I will get back to you with an answer.

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