[Edu-sig] coding for high school math credit

[kirby urner]

I'm back to researching high school courses that fulfill
math requirements and that involve coding.

In California the so-called A-G metric is used by UC
(University of California) schools, to validate whether
a given course of study qualifies as sufficient prep for
admission to a UC campus.

Here's an example:

http://ucci.ucop.edu/GeometryComputerVisualizationSimulation.pdf

It's context:

http://ucci.ucop.edu/integrated-courses/a-g-table.html

Some representative thinking behind such courses:

https://edsource.org/2016/teaching-math-with-computer-programming-can-help-narrow-achievement-gap/563371

i.e. your high school has no CS (computer science)
but you want to including coding as a for-credit activity.
Solution:  bring coding into math courses. Math teachers
get in-place professional development.

Part of the motivation for offering such courses
is equity i.e. providing a level playing field.  Schools
with a separate CS faculty tend to enjoy more affluent
patronage.

So what's another way to introduce coding that's
not extra-curricular nor "elective" in the sense of not
counting towards fulfilling requirements (e.g. A-G)?

That's my focus: for-credit programming in high
school without the necessity of branding the courses
as CS, even if they include CS content.

Regarding the above course, I'm glad to see
emphasis on 3D printing.  However when it
comes to the fundamentals of polyhedrons and
their dissections, I'd recommend doing a lot
more with what are called A, B, T, E and S modules
(specific 3D-printable shapes).

>From example, 2 A modules, a left and right,
plus either a left or right B, face-bond to form
a "minimum tetrahedron" (MITE) that is also a
space-filler.  A = B = T = 1/24 in terms of volume,
relative to a regular tetrahedron of 24 As (12
left and 12 right) as unit volume.

Gluing may be a standard step in some 3D
printing workflows:

http://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/questions/54/what-is-the-best-way-to-connect-3d-printed-parts

Gluing MITEs into both cubes (volume 3) and
rhombic dodecahedrons (volume 6) would be
a next step.  One could 3D print MITEs directly
at this point, once the AAB dissection is well-
understood.  A- and B-modules also assemble
the regular octahedron (volume 4).[1]

We made a 24 A-module tetrahedron from paper
at Winterhaven PPS back in the day (2006), during
an all-sixth-grade assembly.

http://mybizmo.blogspot.com/2006/02/sixth-grade-geometry.html

120 T-modules assemble into a rhombic triacontahedron
(RT) of volume 5. Said RT radius is .9994 vs. the 1.0 radius
of the 120 E-modules RT, a 5+ volumed RT that's scaled
down by phi from a bigger RT in which our canonical
icosahedron (volume 18.51...) is inscribed.

Note that scaling 3D shapes, and the effect this has
on area and volume is already part of the above course.

I realize an excursion into American Literature for our
alternative volumes-hierarchy might seem too obscure
or exotic to some curriculum developers.  I'd argue
in contrast that such a course might thereby also
count towards fulfilling UC B-pathway requirement (i.e.
English / literature).

Kirby

[1] https://medium.com/@kirbyurner/american-literature-101-224489c26f19
(concentric hierarchy of polyhedrons in American literature)
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