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Subject: 
Re: New Civil Engineer letter
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.loc.uk, lugnet.mediawatch, lugnet.technic, lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Fri, 6 Jul 2001 11:05:10 GMT
Viewed: 
1753 times
  
In lugnet.loc.uk, Simon Bennett writes:

<snip>

I have now sent the letter.  I didn't change it that much and it's still
very long but I wanted to get it out there before I got cold feet about
sending it at all!

<snip>

You rock. Very nicely done. I think I speak for a number of people when I
say "thanks for doing this, well done!"

++Lar


Subject: 
Re: New Civil Engineer letter
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.loc.uk, lugnet.mediawatch, lugnet.technic, lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Fri, 6 Jul 2001 11:52:06 GMT
Viewed: 
1743 times
  
In lugnet.loc.uk, Larry Pieniazek writes:
You rock. Very nicely done. I think I speak for a number of people when I
say "thanks for doing this, well done!"

++Lar

Cheers Larry, I've got a nice warm Lugnetty 'included' feeling now!  All we
have to do now is just sit back and watch New Civil Engineer not publish it!

Psi


Subject: 
RE: New Civil Engineer letter
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Fri, 6 Jul 2001 13:36:00 GMT
Reply-To: 
<rhempel@bmts^IHateSpam^.com>
Viewed: 
1362 times
  
Steve wrote:

My kid was raised on Lego *and* Meccano *and* Lincoln Logs *and* Knex
*and* Construx *and* Girder-and-Panel *and* balsa-wood+glue *and*
Anatomics
(you build dinosaur skeletons from a bunch of 'bones' that snap together
using ball-and-socket joints) *and* Wizzard Wandz *and* <some
German system
that lets you build full-sized climbing frames from two foot long sections
of plastic pipework - and comes with a 1/10th scale version of
all the parts
so you can plan your work on a more reasonable scale!>.

There have been *many* others.

At age 10, he is just starting in on
pressure-treated-lumber-and-coach-bolts,
Linux, C++ programming and my wife's 1972 VW bug!

Ummm, can you adopt older (39 yrs) kids like myself? :-)

Cheers, Ralph


Subject: 
Re: New Civil Engineer letter
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.robotics
Date: 
Sat, 7 Jul 2001 03:44:07 GMT
Original-From: 
Steve Baker <sjbaker1@airmail.=nomorespam=net>
Reply-To: 
sjbaker1@airmail.IHATESPAMnet
Viewed: 
1531 times
  
Larry Pieniazek wrote:

In lugnet.loc.uk, Simon Bennett writes:

<snip>

I have now sent the letter.  I didn't change it that much and it's still
very long but I wanted to get it out there before I got cold feet about
sending it at all!

<snip>

You rock. Very nicely done. I think I speak for a number of people when I
say "thanks for doing this, well done!"

Yes - nicely said.

One difference that *is* significant from an educational standpoint (IMHO)
is the use of tools.  Meccano really does require you to use a screwdriver
and spanner (aka wrench)...where Lego doesn't really require tools at all
(except maybe the brick separator).  You might regard that as an advantage
*or* a disadvantage from an educational standpoint...I'm not sure which!

However, the way Lego eases a child gently through the 'stacking blocks'
phase through Duplo, Lego *bricks*, Technics and ultimately, Mindstorms is
unrivalled.  There is no other system that can span from 1yr old to 99yrs+
with a single set of compatible components.

My kid was raised on Lego *and* Meccano *and* Lincoln Logs *and* Knex
*and* Construx *and* Girder-and-Panel *and* balsa-wood+glue *and* Anatomics
(you build dinosaur skeletons from a bunch of 'bones' that snap together
using ball-and-socket joints) *and* Wizzard Wandz *and* <some German system
that lets you build full-sized climbing frames from two foot long sections
of plastic pipework - and comes with a 1/10th scale version of all the parts
so you can plan your work on a more reasonable scale!>.

There have been *many* others.

At age 10, he is just starting in on pressure-treated-lumber-and-coach-bolts,
Linux, C++ programming and my wife's 1972 VW bug!

Lego is undoubtedly the most enduring and most flexible of those systems
- but they all have their place and to pick a *single* building system
for your kids would be to miss out on a wide range of experiences.

----------------------------- Steve Baker -------------------------------
HomeMail : <sjbaker1@airmail.net>   WorkMail: <sjbaker@link.com>
HomePage : http://web2.airmail.net/sjbaker1
Projects : http://plib.sf.net     http://tuxaqfh.sf.net  http://tuxkart.sf.net
           http://agtoys.sf.net   http://prettypoly.sf.net
           http://freeglut.sf.net http://toobular.sf.net


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