No. 71 — Why so capable ⫶ Fitzcarraldo blue ⫶ Loop, patch, library
Watching struggle is a form of comfort
My name is Linda. I write a bi-weekly newsletter about computer science, childhood, and culture.
I listened recently to an interview where a child psychologist remarked how frustrating it is to children that adults are always so capable.
The swift way we tie our shoes, chop up onions, and sign receipts signals a superiority we don’t always know we are making. The way to counter this is to let our kids see us struggle: clumsily attempt to mend a sock, work with counting the change, or admit to not knowing how to draw a cat.
“That a parent watching a kid struggle while sitting on the capable sidelines is an exercise in learned patience and restraint, but a kid watching a parent struggle is a form of comfort.”
It made me think of all our efforts to give AI attention, curiosity, and system two thinking skills. Maybe allowing AI to struggle is a form of comfort we grownups need to feel a little more in control.
Linked List
In computer science, a linked list is a linear collection of data elements whose order is not given by their physical placement in memory. But here it is a selection of things I’ve been reading lately.
Book Publisher as Curator is a roundup of lovely, small publishers. Fitzcarraldo blue is a word I'll add to my vocabulary.
Loop, patch, library. "Many terms commonly used in computer programming originated with Mark I. These terms, nowadays digital, originally referred to physical features of the machine and the paper tape that encoded the programs." Pair with Kilo-Girls and Things Unexpectedly Named After Humans.
Letters Live is a concept I would love to attend one day. In it, performers read notable letters – old and new, original and written by others. Here, Stephen Fry reads a letter from Nick Cave on computational creativity. Another favorite: Benedict Cumberbatch reads Alan Turing's letter to Norman Routledge.
Classroom
I’m hoping to surface and share stories from all of you and I’d love to see your creations! Here are a few teachers using Ruby in creative, fun and inspiring ways.
I searched for an old post and found this gem from a local library. They made a physical version of Exercise 14: Plant and Weed from the first book, which is so neat.
With all the recent hype around semiconductor companies, it may be time to make a new release of these hardware pins!
I'm unsure if I ever shared a link to a few Scratch challenges I used while teaching - but it made me smile to find these disco robots.