From calcpage at aol.com  Wed Sep  5 03:37:59 2012
From: calcpage at aol.com (A. Jorge Garcia)
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2012 21:37:59 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Quarter I, Week 0? It's off to work we go!
In-Reply-To: <8CF582889C787D5-1DB8-79CCA@webmail-d141.sysops.aol.com>
References: <8CF582889C787D5-1DB8-79CCA@webmail-d141.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <8CF591E375BB218-BFC-A705@web-mmc-d02.sysops.aol.com>

I updated my room with more marker boards for think/pair/share, 
whiteboarding and flipping the classroom!

HTH,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math, Physics and CS
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009


-----Original Message-----
From: A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage at aol.com>
To: edu-sig <edu-sig at python.org>
Sent: Mon, Sep 3, 2012 4:19 pm
Subject: Quarter I, Week 0? It's off to work we go!

Here's a little blog on setting up my classroom for the coming year!

If you're interested, please visit:
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2012/08/quarter-i-week-0-screencasts-smartnotes.html

HTH,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math, Physics and CS
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009






From ntoll at ntoll.org  Wed Sep  5 17:52:29 2012
From: ntoll at ntoll.org (Nicholas H.Tollervey)
Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2012 16:52:29 +0100
Subject: [Edu-sig] PyCon Education Summit Update
In-Reply-To: <CAAdq-kjZOQqBKM-C9k-8ggQawwARc+nw0u-tH=W18aZOKZ81_Q@mail.gmail.com>
References: <CAAdq-kh-1AF_Z_1_L5GVi8B7VLyxw5YAXiy2GsRBAAd5ooychg@mail.gmail.com>
	<503F4629.6010705@ntoll.org>
	<CAAdq-kjZOQqBKM-C9k-8ggQawwARc+nw0u-tH=W18aZOKZ81_Q@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <5047753D.6040301@ntoll.org>

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Hash: SHA1

Hi Folks,

If you're interested, there's a video of yesterday evening's Google
"hangout" meeting where I get to talk to a bunch of teachers (and even
a couple of students) about what we're up to at this year's PyconUK in
a few week's time. Many thanks to Alan 'teknoteacher' O'Donohoe for
organising and hosting it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAqQklpZXGc

I've been thinking about the international collaboration question and
want to share some of these ideas if only to have them shot down
and/or acted upon / developed:

* I hope to organise a "show and tell" session at the end of the
education sprint on Sunday 30th September at approximately midday UK
time (see http://pyconuk.net/Schedule/). Assuming the time-zone
dissonance isn't a problem, you would all be welcome to join us and
take part in the discussions via a Google hangout or Skype (assuming
conference wifi hasn't melted by then). If you're interested drop me a
line. ;-)

* Just naming an intention and pointing to it is often enough. There's
a lot of interest from enthusiastic "can do" teachers and developers
here in the UK and I guess the same is the case in the US and
elsewhere. Publicly saying that we intend to co-operate and will do so
via such-and-such mechanisms (e.g. wiki, IRC chan, Google group,
hangouts, PyEdu conference etc... TBD) is an important first step that
such colleagues can contribute to.

* An audit of Pythonic educational efforts is crucial. Just getting
people in touch with others doing similar things is an important
service. By asking who is doing what and seeing what emerges is
another relatively simple step we can all make. A case in point,
yesterday evening on the Google hangout I first met Adam, a teacher
who helps to organise a "Python Summer School" for teachers in the UK
that I had *no idea existed*!

* Assuming we try any of the above (and more) I think we should
approach the PSF for support (grants and perhaps even hosting on the
python.org "official" domain).

Of course, part of the point of this email is an exercise in
information gathering on my part in the hope that people come out of
the woodwork and say, "we already do that... take a look at x, y and
z" ;-)

As always, comments, suggestions and critique are most welcome!

Best wishes,

Nicholas.

On 30/08/12 17:48, Vern Ceder wrote:
> Nicholas,
> 
> I'd agree that we seem to be pretty much on the same page, right
> down to the basic rationale. While the summit itself is by
> invitation (due to space constraints, mostly) the rest of the
> events will be open and we are planning/hoping to have pretty much
> the same spectrum.
> 
> I completely agree that communication and collaboration should be 
> international. But I'm wondering how we might achieve that? I'd 
> certainly be interested gaining whatever insight comes from your 
> eperience and I'd love to reciprocate - I'm just not sure how we
> might do that. I'm afraid I can't make the hangout due to work
> schedules.
> 
> So I hope we can figure out a way to collaborate.
> 
> I'd volunteer to come to PyCon UK to be a liaison , but sadly
> that's not practical for a number of reasons... ;) But if any of
> you could get to our con, you'd be welcome!
> 
> Cheers, Vern
> 
> On Thu, Aug 30, 2012 at 5:53 AM, Nicholas H.Tollervey
> <ntoll at ntoll.org <mailto:ntoll at ntoll.org>> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> This sounds exactly like what we're doing at PyconUK 
> (http://pyconuk.org) in a few weeks time: we have an "education"
> track full of talks, tutorials, discussion and even an
> "educational resources sprint" taking place on the Sunday.
> 
> Our aim is simple: we expect interesting things to happen when we 
> bring teachers and developers together in an event that is open to
> all.
> 
> We're having a Google hangout next Tuesday evening (UK time) at
> which we'll be discussing / planning what's going to happen. My
> co-organiser Alan 'teknoteacher' O'Donohoe gives details here:
> 
> http://teachcomputing.wordpress.com/2012/08/29/pyconuk-whats-in-it-for-me/
>
>  - From my point of view it is vital that we *don't* work in
> isolation and that good education-related stuff happening at the
> various Pycons around the world is shared far and wide.
> 
> We, as a Python community, are an international bunch and I don't
> see why sharing educational resources and experience shouldn't be
> an international effort either (speaking from experience as a
> teacher in the UK, too often matters educational are only placed in
> a local [national] context - an attitude that needs challenging
> IMHO).
> 
> As always, comments, suggestions and critique most welcome.
> 
> Nicholas.
> 
> On 22/08/12 16:06, Vern Ceder wrote:
>> Hi everyone,
> 
>> I just wanted to bring you uptodate on where we're at with the 
>> Education Summit at the upcoming PyCon. This will be a "by 
>> invitation only" event, so if you are interested (and I haven't 
>> contacted you already) or know of someone who would be really
>> good for and interested in this event, please let me know about
>> that interest off list. One of our reasons for going with
>> invitations is that we want to be sure that we get a fair balance
>> between the various education constituencies in space available,
>> so I can't guarantee that absolutely everyone who wants to come
>> will be invited.... But I'll try.
> 
>> Also we're looking for a keynote and panelists for the topics 
>> below, so if you know of anyone that you think would be good, 
>> please email me off list. Also if you have any other suggestions
>> or questions, please let me know.
> 
>> There is also a google group for announcements about the summit,
>> so if you're interested, you should join that group -
> 
> https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en&fromgroups#!forum/pycon-education-summit
>
> 
>> First of all, the summit blurb is the following:
> 
>> "In 2013, for the first time ever, PyCon will be holding a
>> Python Education Summit. This summit will be a gathering of
>> teachers and educators from the many venues that support the
>> teaching of programming in Python - schools, colleges and
>> universities, community based workshops, online programs and
>> government. These constituencies differ widely  in resources and
>> constraints, in methods, and in goals and aspirations, yet are
>> all working to address the same issue - a lack of coding literacy
>> - with the same belief - that teaching programming is needed and
>> that Python is an excellent way to do that.
> 
>> The goal of the summit is to bring together leaders from those 
>> diverse constituencies to learn more about each other's efforts
>> and gain useful insight from them, to form connections that
>> might foster future collaboration, to identify common issues and
>> begin discussing ways to attack them, and to create an enhanced
>> sense of unity, purpose and community among teachers of Python,
>> wherever they might be. It is also our hope that the summit will
>> serve as catalyst for the rest of PyCon to encourage even more
>> interaction - hallway discussions, open spaces, lightning talks,
>> and sprints.
> 
>> Anyone attending this conference will gain a broader
>> understanding of approaches and issues in teaching Python, will
>> have the opportunity to contribute to their discussion, and will
>> make contacts with other teachers of Python from across the
>> community. A high school teacher might make contacts that allow
>> her to enlist the support of a community based program while a
>> community volunteer might gain useful guidance on curriculum
>> design.
> 
>> In addition to active involvement in the process of teaching 
>> Python, the only requirement of attendees is engagement. The 
>> morning sessions will include panel discussions that encourage 
>> participation and the afternoon will consist of unconference
>> style breakout sessions that demand it. So please come willing to
>> learn, to teach, and to participate."
> 
>> Also, I've developed a basic statement of the topics we'll be 
>> covering:
> 
>> "As I see it there are the three core issues that most impact 
>> Python education today: engagement, curriculum and teaching. So
>> I'm proposing that we frame the topics for the summit
>> accordingly.
> 
>> Engagement -  By "engagement" I mean getting people involved - 
>> attracting learners and letting them know why they should be
>> eager to learn Python, recruiting teachers, sponsors and
>> supporters with the skills needed to facilitate that learning,
>> and then keeping everyone involved in the community. You could
>> also call this "outreach" or even "marketing". Whatever  you call
>> it, we need to attract people who want to learn Python and the
>> people and the people to help satisfy that need.
> 
>> Topics: How are the various education communities attracting
>> people to their programs? What things can each learn from other
>> programs, particularly in terms of increasing interest and
>> involvement in the Python language and community?
> 
>> Curriculum - The need for uptodate, accessible and appropriate 
>> curriculum is felt in all aspects of Python education. Community 
>> programs need free and flexible lesson plans and teaching 
>> materials, schools are often reluctant to offer a program
>> without an established curriculum, and teachers in all areas are
>> often desperate for curricula that can be leveraged with minimal
>> time and effort.
> 
>> Topics: What curriculum materials are currently freely available 
>> for teaching Python? What means can be used to increase their 
>> quality, coverage and availablity?
> 
>> Teaching - Again, teaching is a universal issue. Schools often 
>> have experienced teachers, but ones who don't know Python. 
>> Community programs can find Python experts, but they frequently 
>> have little teaching experience or knowledge.
> 
>> Topics: what best practices might community programs follow to 
>> help volunteer teachers do a better job? Are there any teaching 
>> guildes or hints available now? What strategies might help
>> schools qualify their current experienced teachers to teach
>> Python? How might we increase the number of qualified teachers
>> generally?
> 
>> Underlying themes: The two underlying and unifying themes for
>> the summit are communication and collaboration."
> 
>> Thanks!
> 
>> Vern
> 
>> -- Vern Ceder vceder at gmail.com <mailto:vceder at gmail.com>
> <mailto:vceder at gmail.com <mailto:vceder at gmail.com>>,
>> vceder at dogsinmotion.com <mailto:vceder at dogsinmotion.com>
> <mailto:vceder at dogsinmotion.com <mailto:vceder at dogsinmotion.com>> 
> The Quick
>> Python Book, 2nd Ed - http://bit.ly/bRsWDW
> 
> 
> 
> 
>> _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing 
>> list Edu-sig at python.org <mailto:Edu-sig at python.org> 
>> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing
> list Edu-sig at python.org <mailto:Edu-sig at python.org> 
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- Vern Ceder vceder at gmail.com <mailto:vceder at gmail.com>,
> vceder at dogsinmotion.com <mailto:vceder at dogsinmotion.com> The Quick
> Python Book, 2nd Ed - http://bit.ly/bRsWDW
> 
> 

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From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Wed Sep  5 23:52:10 2012
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2012 17:52:10 -0400
Subject: [Edu-sig] PyCon Education Summit Update
In-Reply-To: <5047753D.6040301@ntoll.org>
References: <CAAdq-kh-1AF_Z_1_L5GVi8B7VLyxw5YAXiy2GsRBAAd5ooychg@mail.gmail.com>
	<503F4629.6010705@ntoll.org>
	<CAAdq-kjZOQqBKM-C9k-8ggQawwARc+nw0u-tH=W18aZOKZ81_Q@mail.gmail.com>
	<5047753D.6040301@ntoll.org>
Message-ID: <CAPJgG3RV5jrAgtAzbnzHQG18_Gn+3PEERot-Jgn2g9nNFdC4dQ@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Sep 5, 2012 at 11:52 AM, Nicholas H.Tollervey <ntoll at ntoll.org> wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
>
> Hi Folks,
>
> If you're interested, there's a video of yesterday evening's Google
> "hangout" meeting where I get to talk to a bunch of teachers (and even
> a couple of students) about what we're up to at this year's PyconUK in
> a few week's time. Many thanks to Alan 'teknoteacher' O'Donohoe for
> organising and hosting it:
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAqQklpZXGc

Quite an interesting video I'd say.  I'm about half way through.
Google Hangout is new in 2012.  Growing up, we envisioned these
talking head meetings (all the science fiction movies have them) but
now that we really do, it's interesting to see the nuances.

There's a sense of a movie director and editor, even through it's just
software that detects who is making the most noise.  That doesn't
always work, so you'll hear one speaker will you're looking at
another.  That gives the sense of a director making editing choices,
making POV shots and so on.  It's also interesting to have all these
talking heads lined up but not really looking into the camera, as
they're looking at their own screens -- a different aesthetic from
television, which wants to get the anchor person looking straight at
the audience.  To have the one guy ironing -- that's fantastic.  Nice
touch.

Good ethnography, right at the interface between a teaching /
classroom youth-focused group, and software developers, with basic
namespace exchange going on, i.e. meanings of basic terms.  What's a
"Dojo"?  What's a "sprint".  When the word "fork" is casually used, as
in "we forked the dojo pattern" (paraphrase) I wonder how many
non-geeks miss the meaning i.e. "to fork" is said without 2nd thought
by those who use version control, whereas in many walks of life it's
like "what's version control?".

Bravo in any case.  Good video.  Google Hangout is a great resource,
I'm persuaded.

Kirby

From alan at odonohoe.org.uk  Thu Sep  6 19:43:01 2012
From: alan at odonohoe.org.uk (Alan O'Donohoe)
Date: Thu, 6 Sep 2012 18:43:01 +0100
Subject: [Edu-sig] Edu-sig Digest, Vol 110, Issue 2
In-Reply-To: <mailman.3.1346925601.4866.edu-sig@python.org>
References: <mailman.3.1346925601.4866.edu-sig@python.org>
Message-ID: <07A223E8-6A25-486A-93C0-6C11A7EC8259@odonohoe.org.uk>



---from my phone email client
Mr Alan O'Donohoe 
@teknoteacher 
http://teachcomputing.wordpress.com 
> From: kirby urner <kirby.urner at gmail.com>
> Cc: edu-sig at python.org
> Subject: Re: [Edu-sig] PyCon Education Summit Update
> 
> Quite an interesting video I'd say.  I'm about half way through.
> 
Kirkby, you should persevere with watching the recording, both you and Edu SIG get a favourable mention. :-) 

Alan

From calcpage at aol.com  Mon Sep 17 04:15:09 2012
From: calcpage at aol.com (A. Jorge Garcia)
Date: Sun, 16 Sep 2012 22:15:09 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Quarter I, Week 2: ScreenCasts, SmartNotes and Code,
	oh my!
In-Reply-To: <8CF582889C787D5-1DB8-79CCA@webmail-d141.sysops.aol.com>
References: <8CF582889C787D5-1DB8-79CCA@webmail-d141.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <8CF6291655D1CA1-1C30-72B3A@Webmail-m117.sysops.aol.com>

I'm starting to use SAGE and Python in most all my classes now!

http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2012/09/quarter-i-week-2-screencasts-smartnotes.html

HTH,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math, Physics and CS
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009



From calcpage at aol.com  Sun Sep 23 22:05:17 2012
From: calcpage at aol.com (A. Jorge Garcia)
Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2012 16:05:17 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: [Edu-sig] Quarter I, Week 3: SmartNotes, ScreenCasts and Code,
	oh my!
In-Reply-To: <8CF6291655D1CA1-1C30-72B3A@Webmail-m117.sysops.aol.com>
References: <8CF6291655D1CA1-1C30-72B3A@Webmail-m117.sysops.aol.com>
Message-ID: <8CF67DDE2FB320D-65C-116CA@webmail-m041.sysops.aol.com>

Quarter I, Week 3: SmartNotes, ScreenCasts and Code, oh my!

Thought you may be interested in my latest blogs!
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2012/09/quarter-i-week-3-screencasts-smartnotes.html

Math 4R Chapter 2 Library Functions
Math 4H Chapter 4 Real and Complex Roots
Math 4H Unit 2 Limits and Derivatives
Computer Science Honors Chapter 1 SAGE and Pythonic Functions
AP Computer Science Chapter 2 Constructing Objects

HTH,
A. Jorge Garcia
Applied Math, Physics and CS
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009



From jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com  Mon Sep 24 22:18:20 2012
From: jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com (Jurgis Pralgauskis)
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2012 23:18:20 +0300
Subject: [Edu-sig] RurPLE-NG is nice
Message-ID: <CANDo6ExPU5zD4TELyD-TcffZkAWU7mdeiscyxoO-7q_gV9NxzA@mail.gmail.com>

Hi,

just wanted to mention,
that http://dev.lshift.net/paul/rurple/
is a very nice and lightweit PLE.

what I like most (compared to RurPLE) are:
1) variables watch list (if it had breakpoints, it would rock :)
2) ability to controll speed at runtime
3) "stone" make more sense than "beeper" :]

by the way, variables list isn't packed in proposed .msi, so I did
py2exe and archived,
now one can start experimenting without any installation :)
http://ftp.akl.lt/users/jurgis/python/RURPLE-NG-0.51%20%5bindependent%20exe%5d.zip

***

P.s.: in my course:
1) I introduce to LOGO style graphics and Scratch first,
     loops, variables, conditionals, functions(messages)

    Even made a simple Karel style app
    http://scratch.mit.edu/projects/dz0/2759552

    ps.: in Harvard they also start with Scratch ;)  #from 46th minute
    http://www.academicearth.org/lectures/cs-50-week0f-introduction-bits-binary-ascii-programming-algorithms

1a) then propose Scratch translation to Python :)
     http://ftp.akl.lt/users/jurgis/scratch/python_flavour/

2) then it's simple to do the same with RurPLE-NG
   + more

3) probably in the end will switch to turtle module,
    as it allows GUI interactions - what means games ;)

Best Regards
--
Jurgis Pralgauskis
tel: 8-616 77613;
Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)
http://galvosukykla.lt

From ajudkis at verizon.net  Wed Sep 26 01:06:25 2012
From: ajudkis at verizon.net (Andy Judkis)
Date: Tue, 25 Sep 2012 19:06:25 -0400
Subject: [Edu-sig] python vs processing for introducing programming?
Message-ID: <506238F1.6040306@verizon.net>

Hello,

I've been using Python for about 7 or 8 years now to introduce my 10th 
graders to programming, and I've been quite happy with it.  We start out 
with a week of Scratch and a week of RUR-PLE (which I love) before 
moving on to about 3 weeks of Python.  Obviously they don't become 
experts in that time frame, my goal is to just give them a taste of 
programming.

I've tried various Python environments and graphics libraries over the 
years -- IDLE with livewires, IDLE with the cs1graphics package, JES, 
vpython -- and they all have their virtues and pitfalls, at least for my 
application.  I've recently become aware of Processing and am really 
intrigued.  Here are some advantages I see:

  * some fun lessons on khanacademy to get started (a processing library
    for javascript, actually)
  * very easy installation, nice simple IDE
  * graphical from day 1, very easy interaction with mouse
  * there's a great book on using processing with Kinect (Making Things
    See, from O'Reilly) and I think I can demo and talk about some cool
    stuff from that


The obvious downsides to me are:

  * no RUR-PLE
  * overall, Processing just isn't as real-world useful as Python


I'd be interested in hearing from anyone with experience in teaching 
Processing to this age group, and anyone with any thoughts on the topic.

Thanks,
Andy Judkis
Academy of Allied Health and Science
Neptune, NJ
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From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Wed Sep 26 18:48:09 2012
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2012 09:48:09 -0700
Subject: [Edu-sig] python vs processing for introducing programming?
In-Reply-To: <506238F1.6040306@verizon.net>
References: <506238F1.6040306@verizon.net>
Message-ID: <CAPJgG3TC7r0+SxHpHwLP+HoR9+jvVdNi+JPMaB9gQWrJLoJ9yg@mail.gmail.com>

>
>
> I'd be interested in hearing from anyone with experience in teaching
> Processing to this age group, and anyone with any thoughts on the topic.
>
> Thanks,
> Andy Judkis
> Academy of Allied Health and Science
> Neptune, NJ
>
>
I probably shouldn't be answering this as I don't have the Processing
experience, though would gladly attend a work shop at one of those
"cultural literacy for STEM teachers" events in the planning.

I've always advocating a mix of languages and it sounds like you get that
with Scratch, its own language.  I usually think of JavaScript as the other
language, in conjunction with learning about the DOM.  But then I also
think of J from jsoftware.com, in part because it's so exotic and different
from Python, the one I teach the most.

I wouldn't see replacing Python at this point.  The fact that it's so used
in everyday science and industry makes it more than ready for prime time,
both as a gateway (door opening) language and as an end in itself.

My colleagues and I believe in more fusion among the STEM tracks and topics
to where the lines between "mathematics" and "computer science" and
"engineering" and "chemistry" and "physics" have all been blurred.  One
brings all one's knowledge to bear when solving problems.  Individuals may
specialize in their skills and haunt some workshops more than others, but
the curriculum itself is more meandering.  Students are encouraged to
wander (the liberal arts ideal).

What used to be called "vocational education" (where you use equipment,
tools) has not disappeared.  3D printers are just starting to revamp that
area.  CAD is a bridge, and for that you need geometry / trig.  GIS / GPS
is likewise a core area where Python gets used (thinking of Esri products
in particular).

Against this backdrop, I'm sure Processing has a brilliant role to play,
along with other classics.

Kirby
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From jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com  Wed Sep 26 23:32:37 2012
From: jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com (Jurgis Pralgauskis)
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 00:32:37 +0300
Subject: [Edu-sig] xturtle online via processing.js !?
In-Reply-To: <7528bcdd0902280850p3266e69esc60f63bee2a71e5a@mail.gmail.com>
References: <34f4097d0902271406g5f84a84kf37307b3180337e4@mail.gmail.com>
	<7528bcdd0902271618s72a07710l32bbd19206b7e47e@mail.gmail.com>
	<34f4097d0902280707w6d168f44xf526d86a167f3dc9@mail.gmail.com>
	<7528bcdd0902280850p3266e69esc60f63bee2a71e5a@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CANDo6EwaPvkKR6HYTOdAd6v6REOSbsJuOgBD2uXm6vs=QumotA@mail.gmail.com>

Let's celebrate!!

not sure, how it's done under the hood, but it works
http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/thinkcspy/PythonTurtle/helloturtle.html#iteration-simplifies-our-turtle-program

one can even code turtle online!
http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/thinkcspy/PythonTurtle/helloturtle.html#exercises

ps.: found a link from http://pythontutor.com/ :)
and the source of magic seems to be  https://github.com/bnmnetp/runestone

On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 6:50 PM, Andre Roberge <andre.roberge at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 11:07 AM, Jurgis Pralgauskis
> <jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hey, thats cute :)
>>
>
> Thanks. :-)
>
>> 1) I played around, and added Turtle.circle() to actions :)
>> in code its called called circle_forward(self, radius, extent=None)
>> and also aliased as circle
>> you can find it http://files.akl.lt/users/jurgis/python/crunchy/
>>
> Looks nice.
>
>> 1a) seems it would be best to use canvas interface methods,
>> which are already in graphics module (according to DRY phylosophy)
>> or at least decine upon method naming --
>>  which just generate code vs those that pass it to exec_js plugin
>>
>
> I agree... this was (and still is) just an experiment.
>
>> 1b) seems, like  polygons and filling also would not be a big problem
>> https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Canvas_tutorial/Drawing_shapes#section_9
>> for fill you'd just jave to collect the points and then repeat them
>> with fill() at end
>>
> Agreed.
>
>> 2) and also I'd like to make it convert all actions to javacript code at once
>> then it would be easier to implement turtel_js and graphics in other
>> projects --
>> easily escaping crunchy :D
>
> That's a good point.  However, the idea was to be able to control a
> turtle from an interpreter, typing one instruction at a time and
> seeing the result.
>
>> As now for asinchronous update, the server and session must be up all the time
>>
>> 2a) then probably time.sleep would be also good to interface directly to js
>> something like
>> http://groups.google.co.in/group/phpguru/browse_thread/thread/8215dcdc2ac7321c
>>
>> 3) how is it related to server_root/reborg js experiments?
>>
>
> It's not - at least not for now.  The reeborg experiment is an very
> early prototype of an implementation of rur-ple
> (http://rur-ple.sourceforge.net) inside Crunchy.  You can see a
> different version live at
> http://reeborg.world.googlepages.com/reeborg.html
>
> Andr?
>
>> so I'll try sth more tomorrow or in a week-time
>>
>> On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 2:18 AM, Andre Roberge <andre.roberge at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 6:06 PM, Jurgis Pralgauskis
>>>> but one more thing is I'd like to let access xturtle functionality online
>>>> - one possible way could be triggering tkinter to save its canvas to ps,
>>>> and then convert them with imagemagic and show via web (animated gif or static)
>>>
>>> There's probably a better way: use the html canvas.  I tried to
>>> implement a turtle module to be embedded with Crunchy
>>> (http://code.google.com/p/crunchy) - it is available as a demo
>>> experimental feature.  You could use this as a starting point if you
>>> want.
>>
>> --
>> Jurgis Pralgauskis
>> Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)
>> http://sagemath.visiems.lt
>>



-- 
Jurgis Pralgauskis
tel: 8-616 77613;
Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)
http://galvosukykla.lt

From pg at cs.stanford.edu  Wed Sep 26 23:41:07 2012
From: pg at cs.stanford.edu (Philip Guo)
Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2012 14:41:07 -0700
Subject: [Edu-sig] xturtle online via processing.js !?
In-Reply-To: <CANDo6EwaPvkKR6HYTOdAd6v6REOSbsJuOgBD2uXm6vs=QumotA@mail.gmail.com>
References: <34f4097d0902271406g5f84a84kf37307b3180337e4@mail.gmail.com>
	<7528bcdd0902271618s72a07710l32bbd19206b7e47e@mail.gmail.com>
	<34f4097d0902280707w6d168f44xf526d86a167f3dc9@mail.gmail.com>
	<7528bcdd0902280850p3266e69esc60f63bee2a71e5a@mail.gmail.com>
	<CANDo6EwaPvkKR6HYTOdAd6v6REOSbsJuOgBD2uXm6vs=QumotA@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAMqX+rSHHWmV+3HTm_f-mdAxfhyydzPmaEu3H-wX6HZFD7Ro+A@mail.gmail.com>

interactivepython.org uses a customized version of Skulpt (www.skulpt.org)
to deliver a full-fledged Python interpreter with a Turtle graphics library
in the web browser, with no server calls required. This means that you can
download one of those webpages, save it to a USB stick, and deploy it in a
classroom in a region with no Internet access.

Skulpt has tremendous potential for bringing educational Python to the
browser ... a student might be working with me to port pythontutor.com to
Skulpt in the coming months.

On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 2:32 PM, Jurgis Pralgauskis <
jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com> wrote:

> Let's celebrate!!
>
> not sure, how it's done under the hood, but it works
>
> http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/thinkcspy/PythonTurtle/helloturtle.html#iteration-simplifies-our-turtle-program
>
> one can even code turtle online!
>
> http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/thinkcspy/PythonTurtle/helloturtle.html#exercises
>
> ps.: found a link from http://pythontutor.com/ :)
> and the source of magic seems to be  https://github.com/bnmnetp/runestone
>
> On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 6:50 PM, Andre Roberge <andre.roberge at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 11:07 AM, Jurgis Pralgauskis
> > <jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com> wrote:
> >> Hey, thats cute :)
> >>
> >
> > Thanks. :-)
> >
> >> 1) I played around, and added Turtle.circle() to actions :)
> >> in code its called called circle_forward(self, radius, extent=None)
> >> and also aliased as circle
> >> you can find it http://files.akl.lt/users/jurgis/python/crunchy/
> >>
> > Looks nice.
> >
> >> 1a) seems it would be best to use canvas interface methods,
> >> which are already in graphics module (according to DRY phylosophy)
> >> or at least decine upon method naming --
> >>  which just generate code vs those that pass it to exec_js plugin
> >>
> >
> > I agree... this was (and still is) just an experiment.
> >
> >> 1b) seems, like  polygons and filling also would not be a big problem
> >>
> https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Canvas_tutorial/Drawing_shapes#section_9
> >> for fill you'd just jave to collect the points and then repeat them
> >> with fill() at end
> >>
> > Agreed.
> >
> >> 2) and also I'd like to make it convert all actions to javacript code
> at once
> >> then it would be easier to implement turtel_js and graphics in other
> >> projects --
> >> easily escaping crunchy :D
> >
> > That's a good point.  However, the idea was to be able to control a
> > turtle from an interpreter, typing one instruction at a time and
> > seeing the result.
> >
> >> As now for asinchronous update, the server and session must be up all
> the time
> >>
> >> 2a) then probably time.sleep would be also good to interface directly
> to js
> >> something like
> >>
> http://groups.google.co.in/group/phpguru/browse_thread/thread/8215dcdc2ac7321c
> >>
> >> 3) how is it related to server_root/reborg js experiments?
> >>
> >
> > It's not - at least not for now.  The reeborg experiment is an very
> > early prototype of an implementation of rur-ple
> > (http://rur-ple.sourceforge.net) inside Crunchy.  You can see a
> > different version live at
> > http://reeborg.world.googlepages.com/reeborg.html
> >
> > Andr?
> >
> >> so I'll try sth more tomorrow or in a week-time
> >>
> >> On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 2:18 AM, Andre Roberge <andre.roberge at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >>> On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 6:06 PM, Jurgis Pralgauskis
> >>>> but one more thing is I'd like to let access xturtle functionality
> online
> >>>> - one possible way could be triggering tkinter to save its canvas to
> ps,
> >>>> and then convert them with imagemagic and show via web (animated gif
> or static)
> >>>
> >>> There's probably a better way: use the html canvas.  I tried to
> >>> implement a turtle module to be embedded with Crunchy
> >>> (http://code.google.com/p/crunchy) - it is available as a demo
> >>> experimental feature.  You could use this as a starting point if you
> >>> want.
> >>
> >> --
> >> Jurgis Pralgauskis
> >> Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)
> >> http://sagemath.visiems.lt
> >>
>
>
>
> --
> Jurgis Pralgauskis
> tel: 8-616 77613;
> Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)
> http://galvosukykla.lt
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
>
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From millbr02 at luther.edu  Thu Sep 27 22:03:26 2012
From: millbr02 at luther.edu (Brad Miller)
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:03:26 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] xturtle online via processing.js !?
In-Reply-To: <CANDo6EwaPvkKR6HYTOdAd6v6REOSbsJuOgBD2uXm6vs=QumotA@mail.gmail.com>
References: <34f4097d0902271406g5f84a84kf37307b3180337e4@mail.gmail.com>
	<7528bcdd0902271618s72a07710l32bbd19206b7e47e@mail.gmail.com>
	<34f4097d0902280707w6d168f44xf526d86a167f3dc9@mail.gmail.com>
	<7528bcdd0902280850p3266e69esc60f63bee2a71e5a@mail.gmail.com>
	<CANDo6EwaPvkKR6HYTOdAd6v6REOSbsJuOgBD2uXm6vs=QumotA@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAMX7bXxTfOQheJ4EgYU=+Dneuwz_QTSc-hN5zMj2XduYq6dgOA@mail.gmail.com>

Hi Everyone,

The source code for skulpt, and my implementation of xturtle is also
available on github at  http://github.com/bnmnetp/skulpt.   Skulpt is
a Javascript implementation of the Python language that runs in the
browser.  I spent a good chunk of my Sabbatical a couple years ago
implementing the turtle code in Javascript and then writing a wrapper
to fit it into the Skulpt environment.  We, at Luther College, have
used the turtle code pretty extensively in the context of our
interactive textbook (http://interactivepython.org)  for a couple of
years now.  This fall we have about 25 schools around the world using
the book, so I'm starting to think its pretty stable.  :-)

The turtle module is still missing event processing functions such as
onKey, onClick, etc.  But I think the vast majority of the
functionality is there.  If you do find something missing or have
feature requests, please let me know.


Brad


On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 4:32 PM, Jurgis Pralgauskis
<jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com> wrote:
> Let's celebrate!!
>
> not sure, how it's done under the hood, but it works
> http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/thinkcspy/PythonTurtle/helloturtle.html#iteration-simplifies-our-turtle-program
>
> one can even code turtle online!
> http://interactivepython.org/courselib/static/thinkcspy/PythonTurtle/helloturtle.html#exercises
>
> ps.: found a link from http://pythontutor.com/ :)
> and the source of magic seems to be  https://github.com/bnmnetp/runestone
>
> On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 6:50 PM, Andre Roberge <andre.roberge at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 11:07 AM, Jurgis Pralgauskis
>> <jurgis.pralgauskis at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Hey, thats cute :)
>>>
>>
>> Thanks. :-)
>>
>>> 1) I played around, and added Turtle.circle() to actions :)
>>> in code its called called circle_forward(self, radius, extent=None)
>>> and also aliased as circle
>>> you can find it http://files.akl.lt/users/jurgis/python/crunchy/
>>>
>> Looks nice.
>>
>>> 1a) seems it would be best to use canvas interface methods,
>>> which are already in graphics module (according to DRY phylosophy)
>>> or at least decine upon method naming --
>>>  which just generate code vs those that pass it to exec_js plugin
>>>
>>
>> I agree... this was (and still is) just an experiment.
>>
>>> 1b) seems, like  polygons and filling also would not be a big problem
>>> https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Canvas_tutorial/Drawing_shapes#section_9
>>> for fill you'd just jave to collect the points and then repeat them
>>> with fill() at end
>>>
>> Agreed.
>>
>>> 2) and also I'd like to make it convert all actions to javacript code at once
>>> then it would be easier to implement turtel_js and graphics in other
>>> projects --
>>> easily escaping crunchy :D
>>
>> That's a good point.  However, the idea was to be able to control a
>> turtle from an interpreter, typing one instruction at a time and
>> seeing the result.
>>
>>> As now for asinchronous update, the server and session must be up all the time
>>>
>>> 2a) then probably time.sleep would be also good to interface directly to js
>>> something like
>>> http://groups.google.co.in/group/phpguru/browse_thread/thread/8215dcdc2ac7321c
>>>
>>> 3) how is it related to server_root/reborg js experiments?
>>>
>>
>> It's not - at least not for now.  The reeborg experiment is an very
>> early prototype of an implementation of rur-ple
>> (http://rur-ple.sourceforge.net) inside Crunchy.  You can see a
>> different version live at
>> http://reeborg.world.googlepages.com/reeborg.html
>>
>> Andr?
>>
>>> so I'll try sth more tomorrow or in a week-time
>>>
>>> On Sat, Feb 28, 2009 at 2:18 AM, Andre Roberge <andre.roberge at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> On Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 6:06 PM, Jurgis Pralgauskis
>>>>> but one more thing is I'd like to let access xturtle functionality online
>>>>> - one possible way could be triggering tkinter to save its canvas to ps,
>>>>> and then convert them with imagemagic and show via web (animated gif or static)
>>>>
>>>> There's probably a better way: use the html canvas.  I tried to
>>>> implement a turtle module to be embedded with Crunchy
>>>> (http://code.google.com/p/crunchy) - it is available as a demo
>>>> experimental feature.  You could use this as a starting point if you
>>>> want.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Jurgis Pralgauskis
>>> Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)
>>> http://sagemath.visiems.lt
>>>
>
>
>
> --
> Jurgis Pralgauskis
> tel: 8-616 77613;
> Don't worry, be happy and make things better ;)
> http://galvosukykla.lt
> _______________________________________________
> Edu-sig mailing list
> Edu-sig at python.org
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig



-- 
Brad Miller
Associate Professor of Computer Science
Luther College
2010 - 2011 Sabbatical Contact Info
Cell:  419-2112
email:  bmiller at luther.edu

From kirby.urner at gmail.com  Fri Sep 28 05:05:26 2012
From: kirby.urner at gmail.com (kirby urner)
Date: Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:05:26 -0700
Subject: [Edu-sig] python vs processing for introducing programming?
In-Reply-To: <CAPJgG3TC7r0+SxHpHwLP+HoR9+jvVdNi+JPMaB9gQWrJLoJ9yg@mail.gmail.com>
References: <506238F1.6040306@verizon.net>
	<CAPJgG3TC7r0+SxHpHwLP+HoR9+jvVdNi+JPMaB9gQWrJLoJ9yg@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <CAPJgG3TrqU9nu+OF-iN=wf4wzP+3r9Hior=nJk7bx+ua9vdEHw@mail.gmail.com>

On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 9:48 AM, kirby urner <kirby.urner at gmail.com> wrote:

>
>> I'd be interested in hearing from anyone with experience in teaching
>> Processing to this age group, and anyone with any thoughts on the topic.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Andy Judkis
>> Academy of Allied Health and Science
>> Neptune, NJ
>>
>>
> I probably shouldn't be answering this as I don't have the Processing
> experience, though would gladly attend a work shop at one of those
> "cultural literacy for STEM teachers" events in the planning.
>
>
When I wrote the above, I was all wound up from writing this essay, kinda
long, so just a link, but a good overview of my outlook, oft re-stated.

http://mathforum.org/kb/message.jspa?messageID=7896983

I would expect these views to be unpopular on math-thinking-l, another list
I've haunted, as it's so colored by the "object oriented outlook" (OOO or
O3).  :-)

Kirby
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From francois.dion at gmail.com  Sun Sep 30 18:34:06 2012
From: francois.dion at gmail.com (Francois Dion)
Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2012 12:34:06 -0400
Subject: [Edu-sig] Python in k-12 and Raspberry Pi
Message-ID: <3D0BFF63-FC2A-494C-A77F-AD7673EF3C7B@gmail.com>

I will be speaking at PyCarolinas 2012 in a few weeks, on the subject of python and the specific computing platform of the Raspberry Pi for learning CS and also electronics and how this scales to real world applications at the highest level. The talk is entitled:
Raspberry Pi: From Kindergartners to Mad Scientists
http://raspberry-python.blogspot.com/2012/09/raspberry-pi-from-kindergartners-to.html

The whole blog ( http://raspberry-python.blogspot.com ) is about python and the raspberry pi.

Of course when it comes to hardware interfacing and electronics with the Raspberry Pi, python rules as the de facto language, with various flexible python modules, many tutorials, and a large community to back it up.

Through the local user group ( PYPTUG ) and other forums, i received some valuable feedback from students and teachers, but it seems that as far as the Raspberry Pi is concerned, use of python in k12 (on that platform or in general) is mostly limited to personal, self taught endeavours, or the turtle module of python. It is popular with computer and electronics clubs, hackerspaces, makers, hobby groups etc. Also quite popular in community colleges and universities. Even shop classes are getting into the action building cases for the Pi, but not python related.

The Pi is used in schools, starting with gcompris for the very young ones, scratch for those a little older and also the turtle module. I also know that rur-ple is used on the platform, but in all, i didn't find as much as i was expecting with python. 

So, i'm turning to this SIG to try to find more real world examples of python or python with raspberry pi at k-12 levels. I'm also quite happy to hear about other python and raspberry pi use in education.

Anyone with an experience to share?

Thank you kindly,
Francois

--
Francois Dion
solarisdesktop.blogspot.com  -  raspberry-python.blogspot.com

From naomi.ceder at gmail.com  Sun Sep 30 21:36:26 2012
From: naomi.ceder at gmail.com (Naomi Ceder)
Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2012 14:36:26 -0500
Subject: [Edu-sig] Education Summit and a personal note
Message-ID: <CAKvj0qTquGdsG8BxWc48gzQz186+BBOKdYR4WJBPrYGiLR5Bjw@mail.gmail.com>

Hi everyone,

I would like to make one more announcement of the PyCon Education Summit.
In case you missed it, I have proposed (and gotten full organizer support
for) a daylong summit dedicated to education before the start of the 2013
PyCon (March 14, 2013). I've included a full description of what the summit
will be below. Since we don't have unlimited resources, and to help connect
attendees to their PyCon registration, we're asking everyone who plans to
attend to indicate that via Eventbrite. If you haven't already received an
invite, please let me know and I'll send you one.

We already have about 15 people committed to attending, including some key
figures from leading community based programs, schools, and colleges. So if
you can make it all (PyCon does offer financial aid, by the way) this
promises to be an interesting event indeed!

And on a personal note...

You may have already figured this out... But since I've been on this list
and known some of you for a long time, let me just officially get the word
out.

To cut to the chase, I'm trans, I'll be fully transitioning to female in
about 3 weeks, when (19th Circuit Court being willing) the change will be
legally recognized. As far as this list is concerned the main things that
will be changing are my name and email.

The name and email are Naomi and naomi.ceder at gmail.com - my posts to this
list will be coming from her from now on. (and if you don't have a clue who
I am, well then, never mind... ;) )

I'd appreciate this news not being spread (*too much* at least, I'm aware
that this list is publicly archived) on the interwebz for another 3 weeks
(I'm still getting things set a work), but otherwise, it's not much of a
secret at this point (particularly in the Python and OSS communities). In
the (rather unlikely) event anyone cares to know more, the tl;dr version of
my story can be found at
http://whataboutnaomi.blogspot.com/2012/06/coming-out-post.html

That is all... now back to the business of Python and education...

Cheers,
Naomi Ceder

*Education summit description*

This summit will be a gathering of teachers and educators from the many
> venues that support the teaching of programming in Python - schools,
> colleges and universities, community based workshops, online programs,
> authors and more. These constituencies differ widely  in resources and
> constraints, in methods, and in goals and aspirations, yet are all working
> to address the same issue - a lack of coding literacy - with the same
> belief - that teaching programming is needed and that Python is an
> excellent way to do that.
>
> The goal of the summit is to bring together leaders from those diverse
> constituencies to learn more about each other's efforts and gain useful
> insight from them, to form connections that might foster future
> collaboration, to identify common issues and begin discussing ways to
> attack them, and to create an enhanced sense of unity, purpose and
> community among teachers of Python, wherever they might be. It is also our
> hope that the summit will serve as catalyst for the rest of PyCon to
> encourage even more interaction - hallway discussions, open spaces,
> lightning talks, and sprints.
>
> Anyone attending this conference will gain a broader understanding of the
> approaches and issues in teaching Python, will have the opportunity to
> contribute to the discussion, and will make contacts with other teachers of
> Python from across the community. A high school teacher might make contacts
> that allow her to enlist the support of a community based program while a
> community volunteer might gain useful guidance on curriculum design.
>
> In addition to active involvement in the process of teaching Python, the
> only requirement of attendees is engagement. The morning sessions will
> include a keynote and panel discussions that encourage participation and
> the afternoon will consist of unconference style breakout sessions that
> demand it. So please come willing to learn, to teach, and to participate.
>
> *Core Issues and Themes*
>
> As I see it there are the three core issues that most impact Python
> education today: engagement, curriculum, and teaching. So I'm proposing
> that we frame the topics for the summit accordingly.
>
> Engagement -  By "engagement" I mean getting people involved - attracting
> learners and letting them know why they should be eager to learn Python,
> recruiting teachers, sponsors and supporters with the skills needed to
> facilitate that learning, and then keeping everyone involved in the
> community. You could also call this "outreach" or even "marketing".
> Whatever  you call it, we need to attract people who want to learn Python
> and the people and the people to help satisfy that need.
>
> Possible Topics: How are the various education communities attracting
> people to their programs? What things can each learn from other programs,
> particularly in terms of increasing interest and involvement in the Python
> language and community?
>
> Curriculum - The need for uptodate, accessible and appropriate curriculum
> is felt in all aspects of Python education. Community programs need free
> and flexible lesson plans and teaching materials, schools are often
> reluctant to offer a program without an established curriculum, and
> teachers in all areas are often desperate for curricula that can be
> leveraged with minimal time and effort.
>
> Possible Topics: What curriculum materials are currently freely available
> for teaching Python? What means can be used to increase their quality,
> coverage and availablity?
>
> Teaching - Again, teaching is a universal issue. Schools often have
> experienced teachers, but ones who don't know Python. Community programs
> can find Python experts, but they frequently have little teaching
> experience or knowledge.
>
> Possible Topics: what best practices might community programs follow to
> help volunteer teachers do a better job? Are there any teaching guildes or
> hints available now? What strategies might help schools qualify their
> current experienced teachers to teach Python? How might we increase the
> number of qualified teachers generally?
>
> Underlying themes: The two underlying and unifying themes for the summit
> are communication and collaboration.
>
>
-- 
Naomi Ceder
https://plus.google.com/u/0/111396744045017339164/about
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