Mailman 3 August 2008 - Edu-sig

Repositioning SQL within K-16
by kirby urner 12 Sep '08

12 Sep '08

Yesterday at Pauling House (a meeting place) I was sketching my vision of how to get more "SQL savvy" out to more people. The visiting CTO seemed unpersuaded, said SQL was archiac and you couldn't model business intelligence in purely transactional systems, but we'd only just met, I don't think he's as focused on K-16 curriculum writing as I am. As I put it in my blog "SQL is old hat, but we still need professionals with the skills and/or overview vis-a-vis this technology." [1] So a lot of you probably know that SQL is about creating tables, storing, updating and retrieving data in those tables, related by intersecting columns. Until not so long ago, my story goes, SQL was a high priest language as it only ran on million dollar mainframes, most mom & pop (small) businesses had no need for such a thing. Not surprisingly, the teaching literature tends to be very business oriented in the sense of talking about parts in inventory, quantity and price. Like economists, they (the business school writers) talk about "widgets" meaning "generic salable catalog item" (this all got started well before software engineers actually implemented GUI widgets for real, actually called something "a widget" and built businesses around them, e.g. buy my closed source OCX calendar object and drag and drop it onto your Visual Basic canvas, for only $29.95, free shipping). The problem is I'm trying to insert more SQL into the grade school mathematics curriculum, right about the time we're doing Venn Diagrams, union and intersection of sets. This "business flavor" of widgets in inventory isn't "mathy" enough, leaves students and teachers thinking they're on some pre-business track, whereas a lot of these youngsters are looking at field work in biology or something. It's premature to assume business, and yet not a bad investment, in terms of time, plus SQL is used in field work, bioinformatics etc. My solution (drum roll) is to switch to Polyhedra for subject matter, rather like parts in inventory (they even stack up, some of 'em), with the main table giving a possibly lengthy greek name, like esoteric species of flora or fauna (more biological). peda.com is an example source of information, Web pages by George Hart and collaborators also good.[2] Where Python fits in is we want our math students to get it about "transformations" between XYZ coordinates in say traditional OFF format, and a VRML or POV-Ray scene description, i.e. the same information, pulled via SQL, but then couched in an XML (x3D = new VRML) or ray tracing script (also recently million dollar software that ran only on mainframes but now accessible to any kid with a desktop or laptop). In addition to whatever server side transformations (implemented in Python), we want to diagram / explain / show how a SQL engine backs a website with pages assembled on the fly in response to an incoming URL. We don't store the HTML, we suck out the relevant data and build a page, with a picture and everything, or we list results of queries, SELECT statements, entered at the front end. A simple web framework, WSGI scripts or whatever, everything open source, transparent, will give kids a clue as to how their world works, including all that parts and inventory stuff (like when ordering a new video card from TigerDirect or whatever). They build it themselves, with help from teachers, pass the work down from year to year, start new versions. The school intranet becomes a source of culture, a living document and portfolio of student work (students have some control over what of theirs gets saved, vs. deleted if just a draft). Now of course our math teachers are complaining at this point that we've gone far afield and they're right. This SQL database about polyhedra is on the school intranet let us imagine, one among several, and students use it in art class, chemistry class, lots of places besides math. Geographic information systems show gem stones, where this or that type is more prevalent. So in math class we're maybe more interested in the duals table (relates each poly to its unique dual) and the XYZ coordinates, if that's how they're stored (I've used quadrays in some of my FoxPro implementations, got an article in FoxPro Advisor about that).[3] In science class we might be looking at crystal lattices and pull up pictures of polyhedra in that context instead (same database, different subject area). Math classes definitely need to be using x3D and some ray tracing, if spatial geometry is on the agenda at all. This presumes vectors, the usual pre linear algebra content, and if we're using a "math objects" approach, we definitely get to those, complete with __add__ and scalar __mul__ per Gibbs-Heaviside (overloading special names, used interactively in shell mode as well as in scripts). All of the above may be implemented as student led projects, teachers as managers, including with some XP techniques if that's what your school is into, not speaking for all of them. You don't need an exhaustive table of hundreds of polyhedra, or even if your school has that, hand doing a small set, maybe just the Platonics, is enough to start doing an inner join or two, running a ray tracer. The point is to get some hands on experience even before college, with what are still the tools of many a trade, from show biz to neurochemistry. The same approach works after high school as well, but I think we'll want to get started as soon as students feel ready, let them set the pace, like so what if they're only like age 12 in China, it's not up to me to make all the rules, I'm not some Olympian head honcho. I'm a big believer in organic growth, community gardens i.e. we want "SQL savvy" to take root indigenously, not show up at the door as some "must study me" imposed module. The technology is all freely available, don't have to go with polyhedra, but in the interests of efficiency, optimization, I'm suggesting that'd be a smart investment for any school, with all the raw materials already free and open source. Kirby 4D PS: an excellent main table could be the Waterman Polyhedra, which I named for Steve Waterman. These are convex polys carved from the CCP matrix, such that every vertex is the center of a CCP within radius maximum, i.e. its the maximum convex hull for each ball-to-ball sweepout radius. The bigger ones are especially beautiful, though not every SQL group would want to bother storing them (vs. generating efficiently -- given the symmetries you only need to store like a 12th of the vertices).[4] [1] http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2008/08/wanderers-2008816.html [2] http://www.cit.gu.edu.au/%7Eanthony/graphics/polyhedra/archimedean_duals/tr… by Anthony Thyssen, with data from George Hart [3] http://www.grunch.net/synergetics/quadrays.html [4] http://watermanpolyhedron.com/watermanpolyhedra1.html http://local.wasp.uwa.edu.au/~pbourke/geometry/waterman/gen/index.html

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K12 Open Minds Reminder - Sessions announced!
by Vern Ceder 03 Sep '08

03 Sep '08

This is just a quick (and final) reminder that the K12 Open Minds conference is fast approaching. See http://www.k12openminds.org for more details - this is one of the few conferences devoted to Free and Open Source Software in K-12 education. There are two updates worth mentioning. First, the preliminary sessions list is now available at http://www.k12openminds.org/sessions - check it out and consider joining us. Both Andy Harrington and I will be talking about teaching Python, and Walter Bender from SugarLabs will also be presenting. Second, the deadline for rooms at the conference rate of $97 a night has been extended to Tuesday, Sept 2. After that, the room rate will increase dramatically. So if you are planning to attend, book a room now (see the "Hotels" link on k12openminds.org). You should be able to book online all through the weekend. I know that time is short, but we hope you will consider joining us in Indy for this event. Cheers, Vern Ceder, K12 Open Minds Planning Committee -- This time for sure! -Bullwinkle J. Moose ----------------------------- Vern Ceder, Director of Technology Canterbury School, 3210 Smith Road, Ft Wayne, IN 46804 vceder(a)canterburyschool.org; 260-436-0746; FAX: 260-436-5137

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Python Ed Tech positions
by Jonah Bossewitch 25 Aug '08

25 Aug '08

Hi, I am not sure if this list is ever used for job postings, but we are recruiting for a great position involving python and educational technology in New York City right now. I'm posting this on the Python Job board too, but I wanted to draw the position to your attention, especially since you may be able to think of people outside of the python world who might be interested. We actually have a few jobs open(ing) other than the one listed below (some graphic design, project mgmt, and communications too), so please have folks contact me if they are interested in working for our organization. Thanks! /Jonah ---------------- `Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning <http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu >`__ (New York, NY, USA) ==================================================================== **Job Description**: Design and develop educationally purposeful teaching and learning environments. You can browse our portfolio of past projects (http://ccnmtl.columbia.edu) get a sense of the exciting range of projects we are involved with. We are also closely involved with many open source projects. We need people with strong web development skills, a good intuition for User Interfaces, a passion for education, and a creative spirit. **What Python is used for**: We are a service organization with an educational mission, and use a heterogeneous mix of technologies. We love python and use if for many of our custom web development projects (Django, Turbogears), some of our Content Management needs (Plone), and most of our scripting and sys admin tasks. * **Contact**: Jonah Bossewitch * **E-mail contact**: jonah at ccnmtl dot columbia dot edu * **Other Contact Info**: Please submit your resume to the job posting below * **Web**: http://jobs.columbia.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=112228

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nouns and verbs
by michel paul 25 Aug '08

25 Aug '08

In secondary math classes we often say "Math is a language", but we really don't teach it that way. The closest we get to that is calling the comparison operators 'verbs' and the various kinds of values that can be combined into expressions 'nouns'. So, as far as contemporary secondary math thinking is concerned, the only 'verbs' in 'math' are '=', '<', and '>', forms of 'to be'. However, I'd bet that a lot of students, and even teachers, would categorize '+', '-', '*', and '/' as 'verbs'. After all, they seem to suggest 'action'. But is '2 + 3' a sentence or a complete thought? No, it is an expression which is equivalent in value to another expression, namely, '5'. I keep thinking that, mathematically, it makes more sense to say that '2 + 3' is one of the already-existing partitions of '5'. Interestingly, if '2 + 3' were to be taken as a sentence, it would be imperative: "Hey you! Yeah, you! Find the value of 2 + 3, now!" Mathematically speaking, it would be more accurate to read '2 + 3' as 'the sum of 2 and 3'. Mathematically speaking, '2 + 3' is a value that does not need to emerge in time. It already exists. But, computationally speaking, it actually does make sense to think of '2 + 3' as a process. We start with a '2', then we do something with some registers or whatever, and we increment '2' by '3', and we end up with '5'. And then this leads into the question of functions - are they 'nouns' or 'verbs'? In OO terms, functions are how objects relate to other objects. Mathematically speaking, at least according to contemporary secondary textbooks, a function is a set of ordered pairs. The expression 'f(x)' is a VALUE. So, 'f(x)' is a 'noun'. But again, computationally speaking, a function is a process. It takes in some information, does something to it, and then yields some new information. In computational terms, a function is something we 'do' to a value to produce a new value. I do apologize if this is not the correct venue for raising such questions, as it is not language specific, but I find this really interesting. I think it might have a lot to do with contemporary students, and teachers!, not 'getting' what math really is, and it might shed a lot of useful light on the disconnect between the current secondary math curriculum and the current state of computational understanding. This semester, at a high school level, I do intend to teach math as a 'language', and I'd like to get really clear about these kinds of things. Thanks very much for any feedback, Michel Paul

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Re: [Edu-sig] after-school python, age 11+
by Warren Sande 22 Aug '08

22 Aug '08

Jeremy, I was at the same point a couple years ago, and reached the same conclusion. Long story short, the end result is "Hello World! Computer Programming for Kids and Other Beginners" which I wrote with my son. It will be released in a few weeks. Some edu-sig folks were involved in the review process (Thanks, all!) You can see the publisher's page here: http://www.manning.com/sande/. You can pre-order it on Amazon here. It uses Python (and Pygame and PythonCard). Some examples are games, but many more are not. It takes a fairly traditional approach to teaching beginning programming. I think the presentation, writing style, illustrations, and examples make it suitable for kids 10 and up. Several adults who reviewed it said they would use it, too, which I was really happy to hear. We absolutely tried to avoid "talking down" to the reader, while also trying to make it fun. Regards, Warren Sande ----- Original Message ---- From: Jeremy Gray <jrgray(a)gmail.com> To: edu-sig(a)python.org Sent: Tuesday, August 19, 2008 12:44:41 PM Subject: [Edu-sig] after-school python, age 11+ Hi all, This is my first post to edu-sig, and its sort of long. In a nutshell: a) I have developed and posted a few new material for kids getting started with programming, e.g., for an after-school club, at http://afterschoolpython.pbwiki.com/ Its free (no advertising ever, open-source recommended), and will be so forever. b) I am interested in collaborating with or sharing notes with others, to make it even better. Being new to this interesting forum, I'll introduce myself briefly. I'm a dad (two kids, age 11 and 5), and have always been a geek at heart. I do science for a living (human brain imaging and psychology, using computers for everything), and have interests in education (including National Science Foundation grants related to education research). I'm not an elementary-age educator, although have family members who are educators. So it seems inevitable that I'd end up lurking on python edu-sig :o) I've seen some fairly long posts, so I'll take the plunge with a longish one myself. Apologies if that's frowned on. Basically, I want to teach my 6th grader how to program this coming year. We've fooled around with logo / turtle graphics and like it, and are ready for a real language. I was quickly sold on python as the way to go, despite never having used it myself (or any OO language ... or maybe in part because of that--I want to learn something too!). I looked around for existing materials, and am really impressed by how much is out there for python (one of several selling points). yet I did not find anything I was that completely happy with. I looked carefully at the following, and learned a lot, and like a great many things about them: - Snake Wrangling for Kids - LiveWires summer program - other resources linked on Beginner's Guide to Python for non-programmers - A byte of python - J. Miller's 2004 PhD dissertation. his analysis of posts on what the community thinks about desirable features in using python in education is really helpful. one point that caught my eye was the dearth of intro curriculum materials. So, I took the plunge and have started to write something up myself. Its well underway, but is a work in progress, at http://afterschoolpython.pbwiki.com/ My goal is to have it be an experience in learning how a computer can enhance your mind, using a real language, aimed at a young audience without talking down to them. (Young but able to read, type using a text editor, and do some elementary-school math). I tried to follow Miller's guidelines on desirable features, but have not followed them all (not yet at least, graphics is a glaring example). The key thing that motivated me to put effort into yet-another-free-resource for learning python was to try to focus on problem solving as enhanced by a computer, for this age group. Plus sneaking in some geek tidbits here and there, like a few linux command-line tools (e.g., top), so that they are not seen as exotic or weird or hard. A few of the activities are basically cognitive science, and a few are more or less math. I'm posting for two main reasons. 1. The first is just to say: Hi, there is a little bit more curriculum "raw material" out there, I hope someone else can use it too. Who might be interested? My guess is that it will be most appropriate for a self-selected audience, rather than cp4e. I envision it being used in an after-school group (hence the name), probably at the middle-school level but maybe some things would work for advanced elementary (I'm not an educator, just guessing). Maybe some could be rewritten for an older audience. Some of the activities are tried and true ("hello world!"), and some are ones I thought up, like counting to a million to give kids a gut sense for how fast computers are, described as turning yourself into a cyborg, counting to a million in one second, and then changing back. I want kids to see themselves as the agent that makes things happen, not the computer. At first its a little freaky that way, but I hope its ultimately more empowering as well. And I think it better reflects reality: a computer is a tool, a prosthesis for thinking. Like a bicycle is for transportation. I describe it as currently in "beta", meaning that, while there are some rough edges, the ideas and activities might be useful to others even so. Feedback would be very useful to have now to make it better. Again, it will never have advertising. Its currently set up as a wiki, under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License 2.0, which I used because _A byte of python_ used it. I have it as wiki to emphasize that I'd love to include others as hands-on contributors (see #2). 2. The second reason for this post is to say: I know it can be way better. I think its good enough that I can wing it through the fall, but it would be cool to partner with a) people who have elementary & middle-school education experience with programming (esp python), and b) know OO and good projects for introducing it. I know the website is currently just the start of what it could be. It currently reads like notes for either self-guided exploration by kids, but given various gaps in the description (hopefully filled soon) its probably best thought of as structured notes for an informed adult to use when leading a small group of kids. Its not complete yet, and I will be revising after seeing how kids interact with it. Its not lesson plans, although I could see some of the material being used in that way, with more work. - feedback of any kind would be terrific, don't hold back just to be polite. (As a scientist, all my day-job work gets peer reviewed, at times "tersely", shall we say. it took some getting used to but now I love getting frank feedback because ultimately it makes for a better product.) So if anything moves you one way or another, I'd love to know and won't be offended. This is not to say I'll change things to reflect every comment, of course, but I definitely promise to read and consider them all closely. More importantly, if you have a lot to add, I'd love to have collaborators as well. - I've set it up as a wiki with the idea that eventually there may be several editors, developers, and caretakers (a few, not the whole world). Please email me to talk about possibilities. For example, currently, there's nothing that uses graphics, which of course are very engaging, especially for this age group. currently, there's nothing that uses or explains OO, despite python being strongly OO. getting to games would be good. And I'm not convinced that being hosted on pbwiki is best, either. So there's room to grow as well. to comment on anything, you can either email me personally (jrgray(a)gmail.com, which is the same email for the wiki owner) or just leave a comment at the end of a particular wiki page (I think they make you sign up for an account an login to leave a comment). Anyway, its nice to be joining this community. best regards, --Jeremy /*------------------------------------------------------------- Jeremy R. Gray, PhD Assistant Professor, Yale University Dept. of Psychology & Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program web http://www.yale.edu/scan/ -------------------------------------------------------------*/

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after-school python, age 11+
by Jeremy Gray 21 Aug '08

21 Aug '08

Hi all, This is my first post to edu-sig, and its sort of long. In a nutshell: a) I have developed and posted a few new material for kids getting started with programming, e.g., for an after-school club, at http://afterschoolpython.pbwiki.com/ Its free (no advertising ever, open-source recommended), and will be so forever. b) I am interested in collaborating with or sharing notes with others, to make it even better. Being new to this interesting forum, I'll introduce myself briefly. I'm a dad (two kids, age 11 and 5), and have always been a geek at heart. I do science for a living (human brain imaging and psychology, using computers for everything), and have interests in education (including National Science Foundation grants related to education research). I'm not an elementary-age educator, although have family members who are educators. So it seems inevitable that I'd end up lurking on python edu-sig :o) I've seen some fairly long posts, so I'll take the plunge with a longish one myself. Apologies if that's frowned on. Basically, I want to teach my 6th grader how to program this coming year. We've fooled around with logo / turtle graphics and like it, and are ready for a real language. I was quickly sold on python as the way to go, despite never having used it myself (or any OO language ... or maybe in part because of that--I want to learn something too!). I looked around for existing materials, and am really impressed by how much is out there for python (one of several selling points). yet I did not find anything I was that completely happy with. I looked carefully at the following, and learned a lot, and like a great many things about them: - Snake Wrangling for Kids - LiveWires summer program - other resources linked on Beginner's Guide to Python for non-programmers - A byte of python - J. Miller's 2004 PhD dissertation. his analysis of posts on what the community thinks about desirable features in using python in education is really helpful. one point that caught my eye was the dearth of intro curriculum materials. So, I took the plunge and have started to write something up myself. Its well underway, but is a work in progress, at http://afterschoolpython.pbwiki.com/ My goal is to have it be an experience in learning how a computer can enhance your mind, using a real language, aimed at a young audience without talking down to them. (Young but able to read, type using a text editor, and do some elementary-school math). I tried to follow Miller's guidelines on desirable features, but have not followed them all (not yet at least, graphics is a glaring example). The key thing that motivated me to put effort into yet-another-free-resource for learning python was to try to focus on problem solving as enhanced by a computer, for this age group. Plus sneaking in some geek tidbits here and there, like a few linux command-line tools (e.g., top), so that they are not seen as exotic or weird or hard. A few of the activities are basically cognitive science, and a few are more or less math. I'm posting for two main reasons. 1. The first is just to say: Hi, there is a little bit more curriculum "raw material" out there, I hope someone else can use it too. Who might be interested? My guess is that it will be most appropriate for a self-selected audience, rather than cp4e. I envision it being used in an after-school group (hence the name), probably at the middle-school level but maybe some things would work for advanced elementary (I'm not an educator, just guessing). Maybe some could be rewritten for an older audience. Some of the activities are tried and true ("hello world!"), and some are ones I thought up, like counting to a million to give kids a gut sense for how fast computers are, described as turning yourself into a cyborg, counting to a million in one second, and then changing back. I want kids to see themselves as the agent that makes things happen, not the computer. At first its a little freaky that way, but I hope its ultimately more empowering as well. And I think it better reflects reality: a computer is a tool, a prosthesis for thinking. Like a bicycle is for transportation. I describe it as currently in "beta", meaning that, while there are some rough edges, the ideas and activities might be useful to others even so. Feedback would be very useful to have now to make it better. Again, it will never have advertising. Its currently set up as a wiki, under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License 2.0, which I used because _A byte of python_ used it. I have it as wiki to emphasize that I'd love to include others as hands-on contributors (see #2). 2. The second reason for this post is to say: I know it can be way better. I think its good enough that I can wing it through the fall, but it would be cool to partner with a) people who have elementary & middle-school education experience with programming (esp python), and b) know OO and good projects for introducing it. I know the website is currently just the start of what it could be. It currently reads like notes for either self-guided exploration by kids, but given various gaps in the description (hopefully filled soon) its probably best thought of as structured notes for an informed adult to use when leading a small group of kids. Its not complete yet, and I will be revising after seeing how kids interact with it. Its not lesson plans, although I could see some of the material being used in that way, with more work. - feedback of any kind would be terrific, don't hold back just to be polite. (As a scientist, all my day-job work gets peer reviewed, at times "tersely", shall we say. it took some getting used to but now I love getting frank feedback because ultimately it makes for a better product.) So if anything moves you one way or another, I'd love to know and won't be offended. This is not to say I'll change things to reflect every comment, of course, but I definitely promise to read and consider them all closely. More importantly, if you have a lot to add, I'd love to have collaborators as well. - I've set it up as a wiki with the idea that eventually there may be several editors, developers, and caretakers (a few, not the whole world). Please email me to talk about possibilities. For example, currently, there's nothing that uses graphics, which of course are very engaging, especially for this age group. currently, there's nothing that uses or explains OO, despite python being strongly OO. getting to games would be good. And I'm not convinced that being hosted on pbwiki is best, either. So there's room to grow as well. to comment on anything, you can either email me personally (jrgray(a)gmail.com, which is the same email for the wiki owner) or just leave a comment at the end of a particular wiki page (I think they make you sign up for an account an login to leave a comment). Anyway, its nice to be joining this community. best regards, --Jeremy /*------------------------------------------------------------- Jeremy R. Gray, PhD Assistant Professor, Yale University Dept. of Psychology & Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program web http://www.yale.edu/scan/ -------------------------------------------------------------*/

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Re: [Edu-sig] after-school python, age 11+
by Albert Sweigart 20 Aug '08

20 Aug '08

Jeremy, I've skimmed the site, and it looks good. I'll pitch in some effort to it in the future. I'd like to also recommend a book I wrote (and released for free under a Creative Commons license), entitled Invent Your Own Computer Games with Python. It is available here: http://pythonbook.coffeeghost.net It is a book designed for kids and non-programmers (though I left out cute pictures and "kiddie" elements.) The method of teaching I used is to demonstrate complete source code for games (which use simple console IO) and then teach programming principles from the examples. I based it off of a similar book I learned BASIC programming when I was a kid. I've tried to keep the book as terse and simple as possible. Each chapter goes through the same formula: describe the game, show the game source code, explain what each line in the source code does while explaining concepts those lines use. Although it is complete, I am still putting some editing effort into it. I'd appreciate any feedback you have. Also, the complete PDF is not as up to date as the individual web pages. I hope you find it useful! -Al Sweigart On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 3:00 AM, <edu-sig-request(a)python.org> wrote: > > Hi all, > > This is my first post to edu-sig, and its sort of long. In a nutshell: > a) I have developed and posted a few new material for kids getting started > with programming, e.g., for an after-school club, at > http://afterschoolpython.pbwiki.com/ Its free (no advertising ever, > open-source recommended), and will be so forever. > b) I am interested in collaborating with or sharing notes with others, to > make it even better. > > Being new to this interesting forum, I'll introduce myself briefly. I'm a > dad (two kids, age 11 and 5), and have always been a geek at heart. I do > science for a living (human brain imaging and psychology, using computers > for everything), and have interests in education (including National > Science > Foundation grants related to education research). I'm not an elementary-age > educator, although have family members who are educators. So it seems > inevitable that I'd end up lurking on python edu-sig :o) I've seen some > fairly long posts, so I'll take the plunge with a longish one myself. > Apologies if that's frowned on. > > Basically, I want to teach my 6th grader how to program this coming year. > We've fooled around with logo / turtle graphics and like it, and are ready > for a real language. I was quickly sold on python as the way to go, despite > never having used it myself (or any OO language ... or maybe in part > because > of that--I want to learn something too!). I looked around for existing > materials, and am really impressed by how much is out there for python (one > of several selling points). yet I did not find anything I was that > completely happy with. I looked carefully at the following, and learned a > lot, and like a great many things about them: > - Snake Wrangling for Kids > - LiveWires summer program > - other resources linked on Beginner's Guide to Python for non-programmers > - A byte of python > - J. Miller's 2004 PhD dissertation. his analysis of posts on what the > community thinks about desirable features in using python in education is > really helpful. one point that caught my eye was the dearth of intro > curriculum materials. > > So, I took the plunge and have started to write something up myself. Its > well underway, but is a work in progress, at > http://afterschoolpython.pbwiki.com/ > My goal is to have it be an experience in learning how a computer can > enhance your mind, using a real language, aimed at a young audience without > talking down to them. (Young but able to read, type using a text editor, > and > do some elementary-school math). I tried to follow Miller's guidelines on > desirable features, but have not followed them all (not yet at least, > graphics is a glaring example). > > The key thing that motivated me to put effort into > yet-another-free-resource > for learning python was to try to focus on problem solving as enhanced by a > computer, for this age group. Plus sneaking in some geek tidbits here and > there, like a few linux command-line tools (e.g., top), so that they are > not > seen as exotic or weird or hard. A few of the activities are basically > cognitive science, and a few are more or less math. > > I'm posting for two main reasons. > 1. The first is just to say: Hi, there is a little bit more curriculum > "raw > material" out there, I hope someone else can use it too. Who might be > interested? My guess is that it will be most appropriate for a > self-selected > audience, rather than cp4e. I envision it being used in an after-school > group (hence the name), probably at the middle-school level but maybe some > things would work for advanced elementary (I'm not an educator, just > guessing). Maybe some could be rewritten for an older audience. > > Some of the activities are tried and true ("hello world!"), and some are > ones I thought up, like counting to a million to give kids a gut sense for > how fast computers are, described as turning yourself into a cyborg, > counting to a million in one second, and then changing back. I want kids to > see themselves as the agent that makes things happen, not the computer. At > first its a little freaky that way, but I hope its ultimately more > empowering as well. And I think it better reflects reality: a computer is a > tool, a prosthesis for thinking. Like a bicycle is for transportation. > > I describe it as currently in "beta", meaning that, while there are some > rough edges, the ideas and activities might be useful to others even so. > Feedback would be very useful to have now to make it better. Again, it will > never have advertising. > > Its currently set up as a wiki, under a Creative Commons > Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License 2.0, which I used because _A > byte of python_ used it. I have it as wiki to emphasize that I'd love to > include others as hands-on contributors (see #2). > > 2. The second reason for this post is to say: I know it can be way better. > I think its good enough that I can wing it through the fall, but it would > be > cool to partner with a) people who have elementary & middle-school > education > experience with programming (esp python), and b) know OO and good projects > for introducing it. I know the website is currently just the start of what > it could be. It currently reads like notes for either self-guided > exploration by kids, but given various gaps in the description (hopefully > filled soon) its probably best thought of as structured notes for an > informed adult to use when leading a small group of kids. Its not complete > yet, and I will be revising after seeing how kids interact with it. Its not > lesson plans, although I could see some of the material being used in that > way, with more work. > > - feedback of any kind would be terrific, don't hold back just to be > polite. > (As a scientist, all my day-job work gets peer reviewed, at times > "tersely", > shall we say. it took some getting used to but now I love getting frank > feedback because ultimately it makes for a better product.) So if anything > moves you one way or another, I'd love to know and won't be offended. This > is not to say I'll change things to reflect every comment, of course, but I > definitely promise to read and consider them all closely. More importantly, > if you have a lot to add, I'd love to have collaborators as well. > > - I've set it up as a wiki with the idea that eventually there may be > several editors, developers, and caretakers (a few, not the whole world). > Please email me to talk about possibilities. For example, currently, > there's > nothing that uses graphics, which of course are very engaging, especially > for this age group. currently, there's nothing that uses or explains OO, > despite python being strongly OO. getting to games would be good. And I'm > not convinced that being hosted on pbwiki is best, either. So there's room > to grow as well. > > to comment on anything, you can either email me personally ( > jrgray(a)gmail.com, > which is the same email for the wiki owner) or just leave a comment at the > end of a particular wiki page (I think they make you sign up for an account > an login to leave a comment). > > Anyway, its nice to be joining this community. > > best regards, > > --Jeremy > > > /*------------------------------------------------------------- > Jeremy R. Gray, PhD > Assistant Professor, Yale University > Dept. of Psychology & Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program > web http://www.yale.edu/scan/ > -------------------------------------------------------------*/ >

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K12 Open Minds Reminder
by Vern Ceder 15 Aug '08

15 Aug '08

Sorry about the fragment in my previous post - it's supposed to say "See the "hotels" link on the web site" Cheers, Vern This is just a quick reminder that the K12 Open Minds conference is approaching. See http://www.k12openminds.org for more details - this is one of the few conferences devoted to Free and Open Source Software in K-12 education, so if that's an area of interest please come and consider presenting. There are two updates worth mentioning. First, the deadline for rooms at the conference rate of $97 a night is August 25. After that, the room rate will increase dramatically. So if you are planning to attend, booking a room now would be a good idea (see the "Hotels link on the web site). Second, we have extended the deadline for speaking proposals to Friday, August 22, so please consider submitting a talk. While all proposals are welcome, talks focussed on FOSS at the classroom level, either teaching or technical, would be welcomed. Cheers, Vern Ceder -- This time for sure! -Bullwinkle J. Moose ----------------------------- Vern Ceder, Director of Technology Canterbury School, 3210 Smith Road, Ft Wayne, IN 46804 vceder(a)canterburyschool.org; 260-436-0746; FAX: 260-436-5137

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K12 Open Minds Reminder
by Vern Ceder 15 Aug '08

15 Aug '08

This is just a quick reminder that the K12 Open Minds conference is approaching. See http://www.k12openminds.org for more details - this is one of the few conferences devoted to Free and Open Source Software in K-12 education, so if that's an area of interest please come and consider presenting. There are two updates worth mentioning. First, the deadline for rooms at the conference rate of $97 a night is August 25. After that, the room rate will increase dramatically. So if you are planning to attend, booking a room now (see Second, we have extended the deadline for speaking proposals to Friday, August 22, so please consider submitting a talk. While all proposals are welcome, talks focussed on FOSS at the classroom level, either teaching or technical, would be welcomed. Cheers, Vern Ceder -- This time for sure! -Bullwinkle J. Moose ----------------------------- Vern Ceder, Director of Technology Canterbury School, 3210 Smith Road, Ft Wayne, IN 46804 vceder(a)canterburyschool.org; 260-436-0746; FAX: 260-436-5137

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Experience with projecting student screens?
by kirby urner 15 Aug '08

15 Aug '08

I wonder if anyone on edu-sig has experience in classrooms that allow switching any student's screen to become the projected screen, even dividing up the projected screen among students (as in some Xbox games). I find students don't always like having their privacy disturbed nor the big brother feel, but understand multi-user game play. With Twisted on the school server, it's increasing easy to devise these multi-user exercises involving teams in a competitive relationship. Not saying every school uses Twisted, duh, just that we have that freedom in some academies, where CP4E type kids get a green light to geek out. The more common design pattern these days is for students to share whats on screen more asynchronously, by swapping YouTubes around. Kirby

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