Welcome Mary.<div><br></div><div>Mary first posted her question on my blog post about ISTE, so I sent her here, thinking of the work that many of you have been doing. In addition to Kirby, Andy Harrington has been looking at Python and algebra and I know there were others.</div>
<div><br></div><div>I hope some of us can help you out.</div><div><br></div><div>Cheers,<br>Vern</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, Jun 30, 2011 at 12:50 AM, kirby urner <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kirby.urner@gmail.com">kirby.urner@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><div><br></div>Hi Mary --<div><br></div><div>Many subscribers to edu-sig have developed interesting approaches over the years.</div>
<div><br></div><div>There's a lot of interest in turtle art and/or turtle graphics. There's this tendency to divide algebra from geometry, whereas some teachers think it's important to keep lexical and graphical connected.</div>
<div><br></div><div>To that end, my pre-algebra tends to focus on numeric sequences that have a clear geometric meaning (like triangular and square numbers, but I also take it into volume and growth sequences in space -- polyhedral numbers some call these sequences).</div>
<div><br></div><div>You'll get the flavor my approach from the Oregon Curriculum Network web site, this page in particular, and this essay in particular:</div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/cp4e.html" target="_blank">http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/cp4e.html</a></div>
<div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/numeracy0.html" target="_blank">http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/numeracy0.html</a></div><div><br></div><div>I'm guessing others will chime in. </div><div><br>
</div><div>Python's 'How to Think Like a Computer Scientist' literature, a free syllabus, is not inconsistent with developing skills in algebra.</div>
<div><br></div><div>If you want to be more serious and formal about "object oriented" and link in a notion of "math objects", I recommend spiraling through the same or similar material with that in mind.</div>
<div><br></div><div>They may not be ready for vector objects tomorrow, but perhaps the day after. </div><div><br></div><div>Polyhedrons are stellar objects because they're both abstract and concrete in their properties and behaviors.</div>
<div><br></div><div>Algebra and geometric shapes are good friends, or should be, starting with such as V + F == E + 2.</div><div><br></div><div>Kirby</div><div><br><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div><div></div><div class="h5">
On Wed, Jun 29, 2011 at 4:15 PM, <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:mary.dooms@comcast.net" target="_blank">mary.dooms@comcast.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
</div></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div></div><div class="h5"><div><div style="font-family:Arial;font-size:12pt;color:#000000"><div style="font-family:Arial;font-size:12pt;color:rgb(0, 0, 0)">
<span style="font-family:Times,serif;font-size:18px;font-style:italic;line-height:25px">I teach 6th
grade math and Python was suggested as a way to apply pre-algebra
concepts in a programming context. My programming background consists of
one C++ programming class. How do I begin? Are lesson plans and small
programs available, for example, where students could write and "drop
in" a script that includes integers and the output would not only
calculate it, but see the relevance of it in a real world situation? </span><div><font face="Times, serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><i><br></i></span></font></div><div><font face="Times, serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><i>Or, perhaps, the
program controls a "wheelchair" robot and students would write scripts
to drive the robot at a certain speed considering the slope of a ramp?</i></span></font></div><div><font face="Times, serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><i><br></i></span></font></div><div><font face="Times, serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><i>As you can see, I
am a novice, but I see great potential and am willing to learn.</i></span></font></div><div><font face="Times, serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><i><br></i></span></font></div><div><font face="Times, serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><i>Thanks,</i></span></font></div>
<div><font face="Times, serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><i><br></i></span></font></div><font face="Times, serif" size="4"><span style="line-height:25px"><i>Mary</i></span></font></div></div></div><br></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Vern Ceder<br><a href="mailto:vceder@gmail.com" target="_blank">vceder@gmail.com</a>, <a href="mailto:vceder@dogsinmotion.com" target="_blank">vceder@dogsinmotion.com</a><br>
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