Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Kindergartener’s Best Computer Is About to Die

kickscondor.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 101 posts

Re: A Kindergartener’s Best Computer Is About to Die

#71

Post by ledriveby »

tonysdg wrote: post #19
tylerchilds wrote: post #9

What about plugging a mouse into the Chromebooks? I distinctly remember being in kindergarten and using a mouse as my pointer input. I played Treasure Mountain! and some other educational games. Kids are pretty capable and adept at picking up new things. We should be pushing forward with tech literacy while they're still young and not afraid of breaking technology. Touch screens are great because they provided a very…

Great for normal users, awful for disabled users. A touchscreen is light-years ahead of mice for individuals who lack or are incapable of fine motor control skills.

ChromeOS is touch friendly, and there are several really good and inexpensive Chromebooks with 180 degree hinges for a tablet-like form factor.

Re: A Kindergartener’s Best Computer Is About to Die

#72

Post by hakfoo »

Terretta wrote: post #58
throwawayjava wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It's like you haven't even used it, or actually have no use case to use it for creation. FWIW iPads and android tablets tend to not work for most software development tasks.The "iPads aren't for producers" mentality might be more of a "iPads aren't for Software producers (and some types of engineers)"

> FWIW iPads and android tablets tend to not work for most software development tasks. It's certainly not for local Windows application development, but it's great for 21st century architectures (infra as code), containerized apps, or any other CI/CD-able scenario. With an iPad Pro, Apple's Smart Keyboard, and the lovely Working Copy + Textastic, and blink.sh Mosh/SSH client, together with a decent CI/CD (commit code…

On a conventional laptop I can run the entire stack locally.

This can be anything from "run XAMPP" to "fire up a stack of virtual machines and containers allowing you to mock up an entire data centre all on one physical box."

In contrast, an iPad is little more than an editor and/or terminal that relies on a lot of outside infrastructure to do something meaningful with what you're typing.

Re: A Kindergartener’s Best Computer Is About to Die

#73

Post by PinkMilkshake »

derefr wrote: post #36

Are iPads really so unique that losing them is some sort of tragedy to education? I thought the reason Apple was getting out of the entry-level tablet market, was that it was being commoditized by dirt-cheap Android tablets that—at least for the particular things people want a tablet for—do all the same things an iPad does. (They don't have the same third-party app ecosystem, but if you're just using an iPad to consu…

Have you ever used a $50 Android tablet? Those sorts of tablets are almost completely unusable. And I don't mean that in a snobby tech-elitist kind of way. I mean they are literally broken, at least every one I've used or seen reviewed.

Re: A Kindergartener’s Best Computer Is About to Die

#74

Post by jacobolus »

kickscondor wrote: post #65
etatoby wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will add another couple of points. In kindergarten (many decades ago) sometimes we were given individual assignments, such as sticking figures in the right place, coloring things, basic counting... But other times we were forced to interact with our peers and "play together." As someone who has always struggled to interact with other people, and who had not met any other kids before/except in kindergarten, I think…

> I still struggle with people as an adult, but I think I would be worse off had I spent that time in front of a screen. I will say that one of the things that makes a tablet so great is the potential for group activities. I do a ton of whole-class activities with lots of interaction - and it is possible on a tablet because it is small enough to be easy to look past. This is an issue with desktops (esp. in a lab) and…

> activity where all the kids 'drew' a visualization of a certain math problem

What was different about their drawings vs. using paper?

Re: A Kindergartener’s Best Computer Is About to Die

#75

Post by robotron »

slg wrote: post #21

Those in this thread recommending Chromebooks are missing a big part of the equation. You don't need to be able to read to use an iOS device. Chromebooks are much more reliant on the user knowing the written word to interact with the device (unless their is some elementary school mode that I am unaware of). As long as you can recognize icons, you can interact with an iOS device and switch between apps.

What's wrong with knowing how to read before using devices?

Re: A Kindergartener’s Best Computer Is About to Die

#77

Post by vxNsr »

jacobolus wrote: post #74
kickscondor wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I still struggle with people as an adult, but I think I would be worse off had I spent that time in front of a screen. I will say that one of the things that makes a tablet so great is the potential for group activities. I do a ton of whole-class activities with lots of interaction - and it is possible on a tablet because it is small enough to be easy to look past. This is an issue with desktops (esp. in a lab) and…

> activity where all the kids 'drew' a visualization of a certain math problem What was different about their drawings vs. using paper?

For me this gets at the crux of the question of the place of technology in the classroom, it almost always seems to replace regular paper and textbooks, without actually adding anything. I had teachers who would handout "transparencies" and we'd draw/right and them and then hand them back and the activity was exactly the same... only with $0.00001 pieces of disposable plastic. I really struggle to understand the benefits of a "smartboard" and any computer in the classroom, it really feels like we're just doing this because we can, without asking, "why?"

Re: A Kindergartener’s Best Computer Is About to Die

#78

Post by vxNsr »

compostable wrote: post #33
bdz wrote: post #11

I bought a Xiaomi Mipad 4 recently and honestly it's incredibly good https://www.mi.com/mipad4/ Snapdragon 660, 6000mAH battery, 3GB RAM, 32GB storage. The display is so-so 1920x1200, not the best but still good. And that was $180 from Aliexpress (The iPad Mini is $399)

Android is a deal breaker though for many people. For example, I don't want to worry about whether I have Ice Cream Cookie, Yogurtland, Lolly Pop, etc. I don't want to have to run Norton Antivirus on it. In fact, I don't want to be forced to think about security at all. I want an app store with trusted apps, not hackers.

While all the points you mention do bear some credence, I think the biggest argument for iOS tablets over Android is the lack of first party tablet app support on Android. I;m not saying there are no tablet apps, just they're a lot less common vs iPad apps, which often are a lot more than just scaled up iphone apps.

Re: A Kindergartener’s Best Computer Is About to Die

#79

Post by WalterGR »

robotron wrote: post #75
slg wrote: post #21

Those in this thread recommending Chromebooks are missing a big part of the equation. You don't need to be able to read to use an iOS device. Chromebooks are much more reliant on the user knowing the written word to interact with the device (unless their is some elementary school mode that I am unaware of). As long as you can recognize icons, you can interact with an iOS device and switch between apps.

What's wrong with knowing how to read before using devices?

I’m curious how you’re applying that to kindergartners.

I started using computers around age 4. I couldn’t read for shit. My parents didn’t withhold technology because I couldn’t read the manual. I’m thankful for that, as now I’m a software engineer and love it.

What insane gatekeeping.

Re: A Kindergartener’s Best Computer Is About to Die

#80

Post by WalterGR »

Sure, by now children can do some rudimentary typing and mouse flicking. But if you think trackpads are awful for adults, you should observe children using them. Tears, people.

Two days ago a mathematician was explaining a concept to me that involved math I’ve long forgotten combined with math I’ve never learned. When I told him I didn’t completely follow, he said “It’s super easy,” and repeated what he had already said - but more slowly.

Now, there were no tears involved, but anyone who is trying to explain or teach something they’re an expert in/at to someone (of any age) who is very much not would do well to remember the three sentences I’ve quoted above. Tears or no, at any age, it’s incredibly frustrating.

Post reply on HN