[Edu-sig] Joining my first SIG

[kirby urner]

Hi Zak --

Glad you've joined us.

I used to be a full time high school math teacher in the 1980s (Jersey
City), then worked at McGraw-Hill.

We all though Logo and BASIC might be getting a mind-slice in
pre-college math, but Texas Instruments won with math wars.

These days, I sometimes get to field test through Saturday Academy.

Martian Math was the latest such prototype (ongoing in other formats).

http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2102469&tstart=0

Portland Public has also used my services (GIS / GPS a focus -- big on
geography around here).

I tend to think Python + Polyhedra could be a real sweet spot in the
curriculum because Polyhedra are "objects" in literal sense yet also
in a mathematical sense.

Learning about "math objects" starting with Polyhedra, other geometric
concepts, seems an ideal application of an OO language.

I tend to use VPython quite a bit.

I was sorry to miss Ruth Chabay's demo of Vpython at the recent
American Association of Physics Teachers conference at the downtown
Hilton.

http://www.physics.ncsu.edu/people/faculty_chabay.html

Kirby