[Bf-education] Blender for kids

Mon Aug 17 15:41:04 CEST 2015

Hey Everyone,

I won't be there, but I would like to listen in if they do the streaming
like last year. I teach Blender to 10 - 12 year olds and have a limited
knowledge of the Python side of things at the moment. I am very interested
in finding out how to simplify the UI in Blender.

Cheers,

Doug

From: bf-education-bounces at blender.org
[mailto:bf-education-bounces at blender.org] On Behalf Of Monique
Sent: Sunday, 16 August 2015 8:38 PM
To: bf-education at blender.org
Subject: Re: [Bf-education] Blender for kids

Hi all

I'll be at the BConf in Octobre. I propose a roundtable discussion on this
subject. 
Topics:
- Learning content for kids: approach and format.
- Licensing and availability
- challenges 
- Other?

Who wants to join?

Kind regards,
Monique

Op 13/08/15 om 05:43 schreef Peter Koppatz:

Hi  all, 

I think that if you explain date types well, then it is easy for them. 

Explaining that you have objects and things that you can do with these
objects is the first step.

Then give concrete examples. No need to get into the technical details.
Whole numbers VS number with point in them is good enough.Or lists and
dictionary are also easy when explained in simple terms. Of course the age
of the kids makes a huge difference.

I agree. Most Python courses are explaining datatypes in the first place.
But kids are interested in constructing and discovering new worlds. So
starting with many datatype specific code, inclusive a print("hello world")
is in my opinion the wrong way to go for kids. Therefore  in our course
material you will find the Python and datatype specific parts at the end. By
the way most python tutorials are for Python 2.x and we need Python 3.x in
Blender. More important (Blender is perfect for this task) is to explain
what is an object and how can I create and manipulate objects.  It depends
on the age where to start. It would be possible to deliver a prepared set of
objects, so construction new objects is the goal. Have a look at the
molecule example[1] or you can focus on programming from the beginning
[2,3], as you can see in this example there is no basic Python datatype
involved, there are only objects, loops and functions (ok lists are
involved, but you don't have to explain it with all corner cases in the
first place). In one course an 10 years old boy played with the checker
(Halma-Figur) and moved the sphere to the other end of the cone and surprise
after an rotation a new object was created, an ice cream with a scoop! I was
surprised because I was fixated on the Halma figure. It was fun. And thats
the main goal of every beginner tutorial, fun, freedom in constructing and
manipulating of objects.

The next step is the  animation of objects, but in my opinion, this task is
not possible in two days (thats the usual length of a course), because it is
difficult for a beginner and you need more time for this task. But again my
focus is teaching python with fun and print is not fun! Blender is fun :-)

Just my two cents.

Peter

[1]
http://pymove3d-en.sudile.com/stations/school/ca_chemistry/ca_chemistry_mole
cules.html

[2]
http://pymove3d-en.sudile.com/stations/blender-basics/d_composed_pices/da_si
mple_pice.html

[3]
http://pymove3d-en.sudile.com/stations/blender-basics/d_composed_pices/dc_co
mplex_pice.html

On Wed, Aug 12, 2015 at 9:40 PM, Monique <m.dewanchand at atmind.nl
<mailto:m.dewanchand at atmind.nl> > wrote:

Hello Peter,

Thank you for sharing. 
When it comes to python, personally I wouldn't start with explaining data
types. I've seen some kids struggle with this. 

What is your experience?

Rgds,
Monique

Op 11/08/15 om 22:02 schreef Peter Koppatz:

Hi Monique, 

Past months I've been asked to give Blender workshops to kids between 8 
and 16 years old. I searched for Blender teaching material but couldn't 
find much. I decided to use some simple models from Blendswap and hide 
the majority of buttons in the UI. Surprisingly this worked better than 
expected.
The kids were very enthusiastic and could perform the tasks pretty well. 
At the end I was asked how kids could continu learning Blender.

This motivated me to start an open website/platform in NL to teach kids 
more on technology, especially Blender & Python. But what is a good 
format for teaching Blender to kids?
Can we teach Blender to kids in a same manner as kids are thaught math 
or grammar?
Are there tutorials or program lessons available for kids?
Is anyone working on this and willing to cooperate?

The "Python Software Verband (PySV)" started in 2013 a programming contest
for kids in Germany[1]. I have written a collection of tutorials to teach
and prepare interested kids. The focus is programming with Python! There was
always a great interest in using and translating the existing german
version. So I started to reorganize the course material and switched to use
the english version as a master. Now other people can translate the english
version to other languages. The course material is available at
bitbucket[2], and Transifex[3] is used for translations. The prototype of
the new multilingual version is available at http://pymove3d.sudile.com
<http://pymove3d.sudile.com/> .

The new structure and the translation is a work in progress, and a little
bit a mess, because my english is very poor. Nevertheless you could either
help to finish and develop the existing material or improve the english
version or use parts of the course material as you like. There are also some
open problems due to the course material in different languages. I have some
ideas but not a real solution e. g.  for short videos and screenshots (with
text added on the images). SVG could be a solution. Suggestions and help is
always appreciated.

If you have further questions, ask me.

Kind regards,

Peter

[1] http://pymove3d.pysv.org/ (German only)

[2] https://bitbucket.org/pkoppatz/pymove3d-en

[3] https://www.transifex.com/pysv/

Kind regards,
Monique Dewanchand
At Mind
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-- 

Douglas E Knapp, MSAOM, LAc.

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