Coming soon: Python in Math Class

[Kirby Urner]

"Gerrit Muller" <gmuller at worldonline.nl> wrote:

>Kirby Urner heeft geschreven in bericht ...
>>
>>
>>  Review of my curriculum writing at the O'Reilly website:
>>  http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/python/2000/10/04/pythonnews.html
>>  (with pointers to "the beef" at my website).
>>
>>  Kirby
>>
>>
>http://www.inetarena.com/~pdx4d/ocn/numeracy0.html
>is very accessible math material.
>
>The introduction is somewhat overwhelming, due to the fact that most terms
>are present in condensed form, don't let you frighten by this.
>
>Hopefully this kind of education comes in more widespread use.
>
>Regards Gerrit
>

Thanks for offering encouragement to other readers.

Note that the essay continues through another 3 parts (to numeracy3.html)
with lots of the topics interconnecting (e.g. sphere packing lattice, 
Pascal's Triangle, random walks, volumes of polyhedra).

On the Math Forum, I work to supplement my more difficult curriculum
writing with easier stuff (on-ramps that aren't nearly so steep).

Examples (apologies if these URLs are so long that they wrap around):

http://mathforum.com/epigone/math-teach/glonmehblil/q63q1d99aeev@forum.mathforum.com

http://mathforum.com/epigone/math-teach/pilfrowhel/sj8u9i65t053@forum.mathforum.com

http://mathforum.com/epigone/math-teach/menddwandyon/538anb0u38og@forum.mathforum.com


I think teachers who demonstrate their power to program a computer in
front of students (and pass this knowledge on to them) are good role
models.  If all you know (as a teacher) is how to put in a CDROM and
boot some educational software, then you don't know any more than my
6 year old girl.  But young children need to feel that adults are 
competent way beyond their level -- helps them feel safe and secure
(teenages, on the other hand, begin to hope that they're almost to 
average adult level, perhaps above average in some respect).  

Probably it's better not to have a computer in the classroom if the 
teacher has no programming ability whatsoever (this sends the wrong 
message).  

In Waldorf schools, exposure to computers is postponed, and then the 
first thing a kid does is assemble one from hardware components.  
This is deliberately empowering, designed to impart a sense of 
confidance and mastery.  

I am not a Waldorfian myself, but my school does encourage programming
from a young age for much the same reasons:  the computer should not
be a "black box" and the curriculum should do a great deal, even at
the early levels, to demystify computers.  Fortunately, this goal 
dovetails very nicely with an earlier requirement to impart competence
in mathworld.  

Computerworld and mathworld are in the process of forming a much
tighter alliance than perhaps ever before in history, such that 
educationworld is going to sense a lot more integration in the 
various next generation curricula set to make their debut in the
near future (including via television and other media i.e. we're
talking about a cultural megatrend here, not just some phenomenon
confined to the classroom).

I know Disney is pouring some thinking into SmallTalk ("Mickey Mouse
goes Squeak") lately.  The corporate interests are getting into 
education for survival purposes (they can't function at the level
they intend if the students aren't properly prepared).  Although
the DARPA funding for Python's CP4E ran out (a CNRI initiative),
it's not unlikely that big money will get behind Python in some
new form, thinking the Python in K-12 assures a more reliable 
pipeline of Java, C++/C/C#, Scheme, Lisp and other language users
(not to overlook Python itself, which isn't "just a teaching 
language" by any stretch of the imagination).  

Of course a lot of school boards and standards committees don't
even think about Python (or Squeak either for that matter), but
then, neither do the corporate bosses necessarily waste much time
worrying about the clueless school boards, either (it's a two 
way street).  Given Python runs on Microsoft as well as Linux
and Mac, this isn't shaping up to be another round of the OS 
wars.

The math wars are real in their own right, separate from the 
OS and language wars.  What we'll be seeing are competing math
curricula, most of which take one or more computer language 
to heart (parents are going to insist on that, once it becomes
clear that "the better schools" all teach programming), but 
only some will go with Python.

We saw this phenomenon with Logo and BASIC back in the 1980s.
Then calculators got much more powerful and largely knocked
the computer languages out of the ring.  But the computer 
languages have been exercising and developing the user 
friendliness muscles, and are poised to re-enter the ring 
and send those wimpy calculators into the bleachers (POW!).

Kirby