[Edu-sig] Education Room (Pycon 2013)

Wed Jul 11 13:36:10 CEST 2012

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Hi,

I'm a former teacher currently working as a Python developer and I've
stepped up to help organise the "Education" track at this year's
PyconUK (happening in September - see http://pyconuk.org).

Given this fact and the OP, education is making more in-roads to
conferences so perhaps we could pool resources and / or share tips,
ideas and so on..?

In any case, my current thinking for PyconUK is to concentrate on
teachers. Many ICT (information and communication technology) teachers
do not have a background in computing - often they're business studies
teachers who have side stepped into the subject. Furthermore, in the
UK at least, Python has a good reputation among the CAS (Computing At
School) group of teachers and there's a lot of interest from teachers
to find out more.

I have four aims:

1) Run an "Introduction to Python" tutorial a la open-hatch with an
emphasis on welcoming teachers.

2) Following #1, run a code dojo (see
http://ntoll.org/how-to-run-an-awesome-code-dojo.html) so teachers and
developers get to interact with each other in solving a programming
problem. This is important because it'll allow teachers to observe
Python being used "in anger", encourage them to ask questions and get
a peek into some of the machinations of development.

3) Facilitate the creation of schemes of work (perhaps a UK term, but
basically a block of lessons concerning a specific topic). The final
day of the conference is earmarked "sprints" and I see this as an
opportunity for colleagues to get their heads together and start
working on producing teaching resources released under a CC type
license. One problem I foresee is that UK teachers have to make lesson
plans OFSTED proof (OFSTED = UK education thought police / inspection
monopoly). This usually results in an over-abundance of jargon,
keywords and box ticking that probably isn't relevant to the wider
educational community.

4) Just let teachers soak up Python by being at the conference,
attending talks and chatting to developers. There's also a conference
meal and various social events planned and I feel it important that
they report back to the teaching community that the Python community
is a nice place to be.

Anyway, I see this as an opportunity to promote an international
"teachers who use Python" type collaboration.

Thoughts, comments, suggestions and critique most welcome!

Nicholas.

On 11/07/12 07:45, kirby urner wrote:
> Vern and I have been chatting off list about his plans for an 
> Education Room (ER? -- name collision) at Pycon 2013 (US).
> 
> I've been thinking of exhibits, independently of the poster space, 
> giving a sense of Python's span, as well has history, vis-a-vis
> the education systems.
> 
> We've talked about Raspberry Pi and the RaspberryJam meetups these 
> inspire, and OLPC -- I thought we should exhibit an XO tablet or
> two, running Sugar.  Could we have those as prizes?
> 
> Vern talked about his sense, chatting with educators, that we
> still lack a great set of resources for K-12 use.  'Mathematics for
> the Digital Age' is great, but couldn't we have more along these
> lines?
> 
> 'How To Think Like a Computer Scientist' has also come a long way 
> since Jeffrey Elkner helped bring it into Python culture, where it
> has remained.
> 
> http://www.greenteapress.com/thinkpython/
> 
> I find myself recommending it to students pretty often.
> 
> Regarding the future of Python in K-12, I think there are other 
> discussions going on that will have an impact.
> 
> STEM is a buzzword these days, but more than that it's the old
> school idea of a more integrated curriculum, wherein S, T, E and M
> have much less of a "standalone" or "stand offish" attitude.
> 
> For quite awhile, I was hoping to get a blend of CS and math
> topics (like in 'Digital Age') accepted for math credits in the
> State of Oregon.  I wasn't the only one with this hope.
> 
> We had that workshop / planning meeting about it 3 years ago now.
> [1]
> 
> The "Digital Math" or "Computational Thinking" or Discrete Math" 
> topics were floated.  I was pushing a 4 year track parallel to 
> established "analog math" so we could have some green field 
> development.
> 
> That's still a useful vision for me, but I've more recently been 
> attracted to STEM as a way to bring more Python in particular into 
> more student spheres.
> 
> The idea of a machine as a "formal system" is strong enough to
> keep the math purists from retaliating too concertedly.  It's not
> like we're getting off topic.[2]
> 
> We shall see.  I joked we should call it the World Domination Room
> in light of Python's evident success, a tongue-in-cheek allusion to
> a perennial theme within free software and open access movements.
> 
> Speaking of World Domination, Michelle's experiment in an
> all-mostly women Python class went well per reports, with more
> maxed out sessions already scheduled.  The PSF has been financially
> supportive.
> 
> I joke that a lot of my students might be veiled when in public,
> given the distance ed protocol.[3]  I evaluate between 100 - 200
> projects and quizzes a day, from around the Global U.
> 
> Anyway, some brain storming on the big picture and how it's going 
> might help us steer the direction of the Education Room in 2013.
> Feel free to share overview.
> 
> Kirby
> 
> [1] Chris Brooks went on to WebMD and I lost touch with SAO, so
> I'm not sure if anyone meets about this still.  I've stopped
> getting those emails.
> 
> [2] http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/courses/logsys/machines.htm
> 
> [3] http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2012/07/ppug-2012710.html 
> ("perhaps some of them veiled in Tehran") 
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