WEBVTT

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Here is the first meeting type,

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done by creating a simple circle

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and asking the children many questions

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aimed at creating a connection between
things they know

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about concrete life and these concepts,

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memory, Google, computer, internet,

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which have substantially flattened
everything

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... kind of a Russian salad.

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At one point we brought out
an old computer

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which they were free to explore.

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They got excited, we put in on a table

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and the objects got taken apart
and commented,

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always in the same questioning approach.

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Spontaneous groups appeared,

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aiming at investigating some aspects
in depth.

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After about an hour, 
the children were invited

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to sit in a circle,

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which they speedily did,
to my amazement

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because they were really enthusiastic
about what they were doing

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and we suggested making a survey.

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They all volunteered to go 
to the blackboard.

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Fortunately, the teachers made
the selection

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because I wouldn't have known
how to do that.

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The survey was about their habits,
video games

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the computer they use, tablets, etc.

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In the following clip, we see
the second meeting type

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where the children are offered
the four computer kits

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and the four video cameras.

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Children are divided into four groups
of 4 people

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and roles get assigned:

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one child makes video recordings,
one writes the story,

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one draws and one works

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at building the computer 
and will command it afterwards.

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Then they move to building

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and the meaning of the various parts
is explained to the children.

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The children build, write, document,

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and as you can see, 
this is a slow approach.

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We also suggest that they use
the instruction booklet

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that they must try to follow.

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The booklet is written in English
but the illustrations are very clear.

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This also allows us to discuss
the meaning of some English words.

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They get help if they ask for it

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but always according to the principle
of minimal intrusion,

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just showing them

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then letting them enact what is shown,

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actually do the work.

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Always, or almost always, 
they achieved the goal,

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and with great concentration,
as can be seen with this little girl.

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Collaboration is great too:
hands helping one another,

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not clashing, collaboration between
different roles.

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I was deeply impressed

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by the diligence of these children.

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Nothing like the idea I got 
from public discourse

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on bad manners, restlessness,
superficiality.

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I felt that if children are respected
as persons

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and if they are offered things related
to their own reality,

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they are also, to my mind, 
very, very disciplined.

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As to the myth that digital natives
will not use instruction booklets,

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it depends: if they are put in a situation
where the booklet helps, they use it

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as, for instance, 
towards the non-trivial action

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of attaching correctly the fragile jack

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of the audio loudspeaker
to the computer's small card:

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a delicate operation.

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Roles were managed informally:

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for instance, if a child got tired
of making video recordings

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and another -- like this little girl --
asked to take over,

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we let her do it.

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Once the computer was built,
time was over, or almost over,

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so it was time for reading the texts.

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As it was late, I had offered 
to disassemble the computers myself.

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To my surprise, the children asked instead

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if they could disassemble them themselves.

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And they did it with impressive accuracy.

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I found some boxes
-- they all put everything back

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but some but all parts back


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exactly as they had found them, 
with all wires coiled

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and each part at the right place.

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In the last part, the narrations
were read

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the drawings were shown.

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The monitors only got connected
during the following meeting.

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Computers got built more quickly

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because the children already were
somewhat expert in that

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and then the monitors got connected,
and thus they were able to

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start exploring them.

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They immediately found a game, Minecraft,

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with which they obviously started 
at once to play

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and in this case we let them play freely

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so that they could find a link
with the world they know.