Hello Ruby

This story comes from Netherlands, from Wendy Voorn. Follow the work of Konvisio on Facebook and Instagram 

Hello Ruby has been published in more than 28 languages ​​and is used by many students, teachers and parents to learn more about computing and coding. But how many blind children have met Ruby and her friends? It is difficult for blind children to create an image of these beautiful characters that Linda Liukas has so lively illustrated. And that is why we have given them tangible bodies.

In developing this, we have kept a close eye on the target group. Small details have been omitted; they are not easily felt. To make differences clear, Django has tactile stripes on his shirt and Ruby has tactile dots on her tunic. The shape of the Snow Leopard is round and that of the Fox is angular.

Love Letters for Computers is a ten part YouTube series intended for primary school educators, covering the basics of computer science. But what makes it a love letter?

For the last five years I’ve been traveling around the world and working with primary school teachers from Melbourne to Tokyo, from New York to Tbilisi, helping them see the world of computer science the way I see it: as something beautiful, lovable and playful. I wanted to remind teachers how much technology can be about passion, people and their big ideas. And I wanted everything to look and feel like you just fell into a Wes Anderson or Sophia Coppola film.

A new perspective to the world

Teaching computer science in primary school is not only about coding. It’s about developing a love of learning and offering widely-applicable, long-term ideas. A way of thinking that provides a new perspective to the world. And that’s what computer science does.

We shouldn’t teach computer science only because it’s useful, but because it’s interesting and intensely creative. Computer science blends intellectual pleasure of reason and logic with the practicality of engineering. It blends the beauty of arts with the change-the-world ethos of social sciences.

The big luminaries of computing like Claude Shannon and Ada Lovelace, blended together philosophy and math and crafts to create modern computers. For the future of computing, we need students to combine their interest in human brains, oboe playing or nature with computer science to take the field as well as the world forward.

And teachers, they play a huge role in changing the ideas of children around computer science.

After this series, I hope more teachers start to think about computer science as another tool they can use to express their ideas, just like crayons, posters or play-doh.

1,5 years ago I got grant funding from Dubai World Expo Live to realise this series. The videos cover things like hardware, I/O systems, networks, machine learning as well as diversity & equity. The website includes 28 classroom worksheets, a teacher journal with prompts to reflect your learning and other resources to support professional development.

Little bit of love

And here we are, ready to launch.

I hope the series finds its audience, the curious, creative primary school teachers.

I hope teachers will use it for professional development, parents for educating themselves about computer science and policymakers to get a sense of what computer science is beyond coding.

And finally. I hope for a generation of children that see computer science as playful, fun, thoughtful — a field that’s created with a little bit of, well, love. 💌

» Check out the series

Time for thank you’s

AK and Fatima, for making the world’s most beautiful series of love letters, and for insisting on changing the curtains even though no one else cares.

Aya, for the exquisite eye and joy you brought to the student and teacher materials.

Dubai Expo for setting the vision and helping me realise it.

Emma and Lilli, for making stuff happen when I froze and creating momentum by your pure presence.

Herttoniemi Elementary School, Helsinki English School and Helsinki International School for playtesting and supporting us in casting. Martta, Eva, Ebba and Ahti for art production and a fun Saturday of play.

The kids: Luna, Lamin, Pratyush, Pierce, Sarah and Eila. I’ll never forget my 33rd birthday with you, the Nyancat cake and the magical silence that fell for the last shot of the day.

Lagstad school museum for the beautiful, old premises to showcase modern technology. Marimekko and Huawei for providing props!

Lullatone, for creating a world of sound that suits us perfectly. I hope we get to work more in the future.

Otto, for getting me over a gigantic writers block.

Production team: Lauri, Tatu, Jyri and Riia for making sure the lights, sound, kids and me worked flawless. Anniina and Kai & Anssi for help with photos and electronics on set.

Saku, for early input and pushing me to the right direction (Dubai!)

Kiira, Pauli, Thomas, Severi, Mikko and Janne, for making sense of my miscellaneous drawings and doodles and turning them into call-sheets, sets, cuts and animations. You made miracles.

All the thousands of teachers I’ve met around the world in the last year or so in Finland, Sweden, Estonia, Denmark, Singapore, US, Norway, Georgia, Thailand, Mexico and Japan.

We love to hear how teachers in different countries have used Hello Ruby in their classrooms. There are many creative ways to adopt Ruby in classroom and we encourage teachers to use their imagination. This post is by Tanya from Kinder Coder Bulgaria. The Bulgarian version of the book is available by Egmont. 

Kinder Coder is a small private programming club located in Svilengrad, a small town in Bulgaria. It was founded in July this year by me and my husband and we are working with children aged 7-11 years. 

In the initial level of our courses, we work and program with Scratch. Further in the upper levels we are using the BBC’s micro controller Micro:bit to. So kids make their first steps in programming using both software and hardware.  

Through these wonderful printable materials My first Computer, we found a great way to explain the difference between Hardware and Software. 

We do this exercise as an introduction to the programming topic. Children receive a sheet of one-color paper with the pattern. Each child gets paper in different colors so they can combine parts with each other, and in a collaboration to build a colorful and cheerful computer. 

Their task is to find the right place for the hardware parts, so they understand that each part has a specific place. We name and explain the role of each and every one of them. Тhen we move on to the theme for the software and what it is like to be a programmer. 

The Children arrange their desktops with applications of their own taste, so they define themselves the programs they want to work with. That is how we achieve the primary goal – our students understand that they have great freedom in programming, can have unlimited creativity and initiative. 

Learn more about Kinder Coder on Facebook or on their website. 

We love to hear how teachers in different countries have used Hello Ruby in their classrooms. There are many creative ways to adopt Ruby in classroom and we encourage teachers to use their imagination. This post is by Valentina Mura and originally appeared on LinkedIn. 

Before my first experience of volunteering in teaching IT abroad, I had to prepare the educational material for teaching the basics of computer science.

The destination was Ghana, and I had to teach in the village of Akokoa, at the Tore Eikeland School.

The classes were divided by levels. In the high-level classes we had laptops available and I could teach students the basics of how to use them.

Instead, in the low-level class I had to teach IT to kids who had never used a computer. So, my doubt was: “How can I teach how a computer works to those students, effectively?”. The great TED talk of Linda Liukas (“The poetry of programming”) gave me the answer.

For a child, the best way to learn about technology is by stimulating curiosity, logic and playfulness. These three ingredients are the key focus of Linda's books.

Linda is the author and illustrator of Hello Ruby, a series of kid’s books available in different languages, about the fanciful world of computers. During my experience I have used one about computer hardware: Journey inside the computer.

My first lesson in that class began reading the Ruby’s story. Ruby, a little girl with a huge imagination, and her new friend Mouse, fall inside the computer in search of the missing Cursor. During the journey they meet a group of new and exciting friends.

Starting with basic concepts, like electricity and bits, Ruby undertakes a journey that passes through logic gates, hardware components, until she gets to the operating system, and eventually the higher software level, with applications.

The students were very attracted to the playful approach and to the design of Hello Ruby. Their concentration threshold was very high and they could not wait to know if Ruby and her friend Mouse would find the Cursor.

The workbook part suggests many ideas, about practicing with the names of different hardware components, thinking like a logic gate and doing other funny activities.

In the ghanaian class I have tested the activity about assembling a paper computer.

From the book, I made the cut-outs of the various components of a computer, like the basis of the laptop, hardware components, operating systems logos, files, keyboard. Then, I gave a set of them to each kid, ready to be glued and assembled to become a complete paper laptop.

I started my assembly lesson teaching to the students what is the glue and how to use it to build our paper computer.

After a brief review of each component to be assembled, we started our creation.

Then, each student customized his computer painting it with his favorite colors.

What are you first memories of the Internet?

My personal journey to the Internet started some twenty years ago. The Internet of my memories was more gentle and anonymous. I had great adventures as Jeni Knight Sabe Sunrider and stayed busy building fansites for my idols.

Where did you get the idea for the book?

I got the idea for the book while tlaking to a little boy. The boy asked me ”Is the Internet a place?”. I could not answer the question because I didn’t have words to explain something that is invisible.

The first picture I drew in the book is the page where Ruby rides a dinosaur in the middle of cat videos.

I always enjoy reading the tidbits, footnotes and references of the process of making a book. So here’s a list of things that sparked my interest and curiosity while writing Hello Ruby: Expedition to the Internet. In no particular order.

Moominland Midwinter by Tove Jansson. I pondered a lot about metaphors of Internet and wanted to use snow somehow. Living in the North days during winter are short - you’ll see how the light fades from one spread to another. Internet is what we build of it - for other metaphors this was a treasure trove. Pair with Kottke post on Internet as a Time Capsule.

Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet by Andrew Blum. A fascinating book on the physical/hardware side of Internet. If in a rush, his TED talk is also great. Pair with Networks of New York by Ingrid Berrington - there is a small exercise inspired by her in the book. 

Where Wizards Stay Up Late by Katie Hafner. The Internet’s first words! And what did Internet look like in 1973? And here’s the Berners-Lee original proposal for WWW (so.. high-level!). I chuckled also reading this proposal from Marc Andresseen on including <img> tag on the web.  

Talking about data, algorithms and ads was something I wanted to include early on. This video of how ads work (for kids) is great and ProPublica’s work is always an inspiration. My Shadow inspired me a lot when thinking of exercises for chapter 4 and Malware museum with virus activities. 

What is the theme of the third Hello Ruby book? How does the book teach you about the Internet?

What started off as a book review assignment soon escalated to a creative sewing project.

Anna-Lena Graf is a future elementary school teacher from Vienna, Austria. As part of her studies Anna-Lena did a book review on a book from the Hello Ruby series called A Journey Inside the Computer (The German title of the book is called Die Reise ins Innere des Computers).

But rather than making just an ordinary book presentation Anna-Lena wanted to add a creative dimension to her project. And she didn’t need to go far to get inspiration and help.

- My mom Rosalinde is a seamstress and together we made a giant computer, Ruby and the mouse in the Hello Ruby style, she explains.

The computer looks the same - only many times bigger - as the paper computer children can build while reading the book. You can attach the various components to the motherboard with velcro fastener and zip up the keyboard. The attention to detail, the vision and the enthusiasm speak volumes!

- I am a huge fan of Hello Ruby books. I love the playful approach and the Hello Ruby design; the illustrations, the colors and the layout.

Anna-Lena also likes Hello Ruby’s playful approach to teaching children about computers, technology and programming.

- I find that Hello Ruby books share qualities typical for good children’s books. Good stories allow children to explore other worlds.

We love to hear how teachers in different countries have used Hello Ruby in their classrooms. There are many creative ways to adopt Ruby in classroom and we encourage teachers to use their imagination. The Chinese Hello Ruby is published by Beijing Baby Cube.

Fuli Li's class in Chongqing, China has been experimenting with Hello Ruby in  teaching. In addition to reading the book and building a paper computer, the children have built interactive games of Ruby with Scratch and the classroom has been decorated with Hello Ruby posters. 

"I’m very glad to share the happiness the adventures in coding bring to our kids. Children become active and concentrative every time we learn adventures in coding."

"Children learn each chapter encouragingly and finish exercises according to each chapter. During the learning process, we also teach children to create their handmade computer activity. Children follow their heart to make their computer characteristic and they are satisfied with their computers."

For Chinese speaking audience, check out the following games built around Ruby:

Drawing & algorithms

Boolean logic

Spot the bugs

Algorithms

We love to hear how teachers in different countries have used Hello Ruby in their classrooms. There are many creative ways to adopt Ruby in classroom and we encourage teachers to use their imagination. The Italian Hello Ruby is published by Erickson.

This is how Anna Rita Bisogni at Istituto Comprensivo Marvasi Vizzone Rosarno, Italy has used Hello Ruby.

Anna decided to introduce coding with Hello Ruby because she thought that Ruby’s personality and the unplugged activities in the book offered a world of possibilities. To make Ruby’s story even more compelling and interactive, Anna made a video on Ruby. Anna thinks that a supportive audio-video resource would be especially useful for teachers who are introducing coding activities for the first time in their classroom..

On the occasion of the Europe Code Week Anna Rita Bisogni prepared this activity with the first Hello Ruby book (Adventures in Coding) and the video she made on Ruby.

Phase 1: Presenting Ruby and her friends, emotional and empathic involvement of children.

Reading of the first 2 Chapters of the book, children's observations, guided questions and active listening.

Phase 2: Watching the video prepared with the PowToon program

Games to find some key concepts contained in the video. Observations from children, finding out where the BUG is hidden!

Phase 3: Introducing the Penguins and the Snow Leopard.

Using the maxi Chessboard to reach our Ruby’s friends placed freely on the Chessboard. Looking at the basic concepts that have been suggested before, and understanding the importance of the instructions.

Phase 4: Introducing Doc, Ruby's new friend!

Planning to introduce Doc after children learn how to give the right instructions. Emphasis on learning from mistakes and debugging.

When did you get your first computer?

The first computer I remember really well was my dad’s work laptop he brought home in the beginning of the 1990s. It must have cost a fortune, but my dad always had a very relaxed attitude around computers. I remember dad saying that there’s nothing permanently bad we can do with a computer - a bold statement in the era without automatic backups and when everyone else was advising kids not to touch the expensive computers! As a result me and my siblings created stories, drawings, games and probably removed the operating system a few times. But most importantly we developed a fearless and creative attitude towards technology