Possible Table
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Mark L. Miller Ph.D.
Aug 18, 2017, 8:58:59 PM8/18/17
to Hack the Future Volunteer Group
Friends,
I have a colleague who is a National Chess Master. He has offered to mentor a chess table at the upcoming HtF event. He offered two options: (a) mentor kids who are interested in chess and want to learn to play or to improve their game; (b) play simultaneous chess against as many kids who want to play. (He’s also involved with a very exciting program called “Zero Robotics,” wherein middle and high school students write software to control soccer-ball-sized “orbs” that fly around in zero gravity on the international space station as their annual grand finale. He took me to see this event last year at MIT and introduced me to several astronauts. He has also been involved in “chess from space” programs and has been a subject matter expert in the development of various chess software applications.)
While this is not as directly on point as, say, teaching kids Python or Javascript, it strikes me that many of the mental skills are related and there is a high correlation between people who play chess and people who become engineers and technologists. Please let me know your thoughts as to whether this fits well enough. If this would be too “off topic” for HtF, no worries. This just seemed a unique opportunity so I wanted to mention the possibility. He is available a week from tomorrow if we are interested.
Thanks! Mark
Mark L. Miller, Ph.D.
Nick Duguid
Aug 19, 2017, 2:51:04 AM8/19/17
to Hack the Future Volunteer Group
Hey Mark, while a bunch of kids playing chess at once with a chess
master sounds fun, it's a bit off-base with our usual goals for a table, in a couple of ways. We try to make sure that at the end of the day, every station leaves the kids with something that they get to take home and can potentially work on more,
or use as inspiration for further exploration of that topic. I'm not sure what they will take away from a chess table?
I'm not strictly opposed to it, I'm just not sure how it fits in?
Other opinions?
-Nick
From: htf-vol...@googlegroups.com <htf-vol...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Mark L. Miller Ph.D. <mlmi...@learningtech.org>
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2017 5:58 PM
To: Hack the Future Volunteer Group
Subject: Possible Table
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2017 5:58 PM
To: Hack the Future Volunteer Group
Subject: Possible Table
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Jonathan Hull
Aug 19, 2017, 4:22:34 AM8/19/17
to htf-vol...@googlegroups.com, Nick Duguid, Mark Miller
I usually fall on the side of let’s try it. I tried a math table at one point, and Joe tried logic once, I believe. They weren’t very popular, which is why we don’t do them any more, but it was worth a shot…
Unless we are running really short on space, if we have someone who wants to do a chess table, let’s try it. Worst case, the kids aren’t interested. Best case, they gain an interest in a game which teaches useful thinking skills.
Thanks,
Jon
James Donald
Aug 19, 2017, 5:52:55 PM8/19/17
to Hack the Future Volunteer Group, Nick Duguid, Mark Miller, Jonathan Hull
More fallback ideas:
* JavaScript: The table could use help on this exercise: http://hackthefuture.org/projects/chess/
* PyGame: This table hasn't been run in a while (though we've had Python without PyGame in recent times I think). If we bring PyGame back, chess may be a good one to start with.
Technically the kids could build a variant of chess at many of our other tables including Unity, Scratch, Greenfoot, or Minecraft, but I highlighted the above two due to chess being in the starter packs.
Someone who's an expert in the development of various chess software applications could mentor in any of these areas.
On Sat, Aug 19, 2017 at 1:22 AM, Jonathan Hull <jh...@gbis.com> wrote:
I usually fall on the side of let’s try it. I tried a math table at one point, and Joe tried logic once, I believe. They weren’t very popular, which is why we don’t do them any more, but it was worth a shot…Unless we are running really short on space, if we have someone who wants to do a chess table, let’s try it. Worst case, the kids aren’t interested. Best case, they gain an interest in a game which teaches useful thinking skills.Thanks,
Jon
On Aug 18, 2017, at 11:51 PM, Nick Duguid <tume...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Hey Mark, while a bunch of kids playing chess at once with a chess master sounds fun, it's a bit off-base with our usual goals for a table, in a couple of ways. We try to make sure that at the end of the day, every station leaves the kids with something that they get to take home and can potentially work on more, or use as inspiration for further exploration of that topic. I'm not sure what they will take away from a chess table?
I'm not strictly opposed to it, I'm just not sure how it fits in?
Other opinions?
-Nick
From: htf-volunteers@googlegroups.com <htf-volun...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Mark L. Miller Ph.D. <mlmi...@learningtech.org>
Sent: Friday, August 18, 2017 5:58 PM
To: Hack the Future Volunteer Group
Subject: Possible Table
Friends,I have a colleague who is a National Chess Master. He has offered to mentor a chess table at the upcoming HtF event. He offered two options: (a) mentor kids who are interested in chess and want to learn to play or to improve their game; (b) play simultaneous chess against as many kids who want to play. (He’s also involved with a very exciting program called “Zero Robotics,” wherein middle and high school students write software to control soccer-ball-sized “orbs” that fly around in zero gravity on the international space station as their annual grand finale. He took me to see this event last year at MIT and introduced me to several astronauts. He has also been involved in “chess from space” programs and has been a subject matter expert in the development of various chess software applications.)While this is not as directly on point as, say, teaching kids Python or Javascript, it strikes me that many of the mental skills are related and there is a high correlation between people who play chess and people who become engineers and technologists. Please let me know your thoughts as to whether this fits well enough. If this would be too “off topic” for HtF, no worries. This just seemed a unique opportunity so I wanted to mention the possibility. He is available a week from tomorrow if we are interested.Thanks! Mark--Mark L. Miller, Ph.D.
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