[Edu-sig] What about CP4E in the inner city?

[Kirby Urner]

>I don't have any ideas about this beyond what I have just said.  I will
>learn more when I meet people at the school.  I also wanted to consult
>with this newsgroup and see what thoughts there already are about using
>CP4E approaches in schools where mathematics may be more something to
>survive than to master and exploit.  I am sure I will find some kids who
>are keen on computers.  I am just thinking out loud and also looking for
>your thinking.
>
>Regards,
>
>-- Dennis

I commend you for your willingness to consider this 
undertaking.

If I were in your shoes, a first thing I'd want to assess 
is the hardware/infrastructure picture.

Ideally, an instructor has a way to project what's on
her computer to a big screen in front.  Few schools are 
so equipped.

What's fun about Python is having access to an interactive
command line.  Seeing something up front, and then doing
it yourself, is what's best.

But if there's just one or two computers in the class,
and kids take turns running their favorite CDs, then 
it's a very different picture.

Re Python itself, it'd have to be via the IDLE interface
I think.  That's the only friendly-enough environment.

I'd do a lot of interactive one-liners, to give kids
a sense of the "I type, computer replies" environment.
Maybe just the concept of "average":

>>> (3+2+1+4+6)/5.0
3.2

... get into all that calculator stuff.

>>> 3*3*3
27
>>> 3**3
27

Then simple programs:

>>> def add1(n):  return n+1

>>> add1(10)
11

Pretty soon, you're ready to talk about other 
syntax, like 

>>> for i in [1,2,3]:  print i

1
2
3

And then you're ready for functions, which are ordered pairs 
of (domain, range) values (now we're really starting to 
do some math)!

>>> domain = [1,2,3,4,5]
>>> def f(x): return x**2

>>> range = map(f,domain)
>>> range
[1, 4, 9, 16, 25]

That's enough for one day (heh).

Kirby