Mailman 3 January 2009 - Edu-sig

news and views from Rams Head (PDX)
by kirby urner 13 Jan '09

13 Jan '09

News: Ian is promoting my Chicago talk, lots of details, feel free to link to this page if sharing with others, in addition to whatever official Pycon literature: http://mentor.sociality.tv/groups/pycontest/wiki/20372/Python_for_Teachers.… I did some good work with the XO today, working for 4D Studios: http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2009/01/saving-children.html Maths: I've got Midhat Gazale's 'Number' out from Multnomah Library again, wanting to get his "cardination" versus "ordination" distinction more clearly, been relying on memory. Cardination: establishment of one-to-one correspondence, or matching, "consists of pairing objects or groups of objects". "Nomen est numen" says the Latin adage (pg 11), meaning that to name is to know. Link to "right brain" for heuristical purposes. Ordination: i.e. counting, requires a notion of succession or sequence, Latin root "computare" (compter, conter). "According to studies conducted by Charles J. Brainerd and others, the faculty of ordination (establishing an asymmetrical relation of transitivity between three balls of increasing weight, or three sticks of increasing length **) is more fundamental than that of cardination or matching. Page 14: Says Tobias Dantzig, "Correspondence and succession, the two principles permeate all mathematics -- nay, all realms of exact thought -- are woven into the very fabric of number system."2 For all we know, and that does not amount to much, they are perhaps woven into the very fabric of our brain hemispheres... My comments: philosophically, "ordination" relates to "ranking" i.e. better versus worse, as in "the fall" into good versus evil (knowlege of). Cardination is "beyond good and evil" (more primitive than) in the sense of "noticing differences without judgment" e.g. in Python we have the integer type, string type, fraction type, but don't have to say "which we like better" (give some better examples?). All moral judgments aside, there's also the obvious hierarchy of "containership" as in "what contains what". We say Q > Z (rationals > integers) because the set of all rationals *contains* the set of all integers. This takes us to the ancient greek concept of "atoms" i.e. "that which everything contains" (relates to later talk of bosons, leptons etc.). Another obvious source of sequencing or ordination (left brain in Midhat's analogy) is temporal, what happens *after* or *before* what else in some given scenario. N < W < Z < Q < R < C is likewise temporal, especially if we use Roman Numerals to illustrate N, add zero from Baghdad (Algebra City) via Fibonacci of Pisa, to get W, then Z. My thanks to Juaquin, Ram's Head (McMenamins), for a fantastic lunch, complete with Bloody Mary. I'm on chauffeur duty for Quakers, one of my several routine gigs. Kirby Cc: 4dsp ** a nod to Gattegno, also Egyptian http://www.internationalpubmarket.com/clients/auc/books/AuthorDetail.aspx?i… http://www.linkedin.com/pub/5/b9/308

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python teacher = mathematics teacher (namespace)
by kirby urner 12 Jan '09

12 Jan '09

I get emails from math teachers in training sometimes, wanted to run by an excerpt of a recent reply. The math guy writing me says: """ My name is ____________, I'm currently training to be a maths teacher in the UK. I have a degree in maths and program as a hobby. For my PGCE I'm required to write a masters level assignment and I've decided I want to research into how python can be used to teach mathematics to 11-16 year old children. I'm very much impressed with your existing work and will be studying it closely. I was wondering, however, if you would be able to point me in the direction of other work done in the field (if there is any), since I have only been able to find work by yourself. """ Some of what I wrote back was: """ -----Original Message----- From: Kirby Urner [mailto:urnerk@qwest.net] Sent: Sunday, January 11, 2009 12:28 PM To: [ math guy ] Subject: RE: Python and Mathematics research There's something of a nomenclature issue in that I'd say anyone teaching Python is teaching mathematics, as executable notations are what Leibniz had in mind, and Ada Byron was thinking Bernoulli numbers etc., i.e. from the beginning, a programmable computer has been the "piano forte" of mathematics, going through many iterations to where now you don't have to be big industry to employ professional math people, various types of computer scientist, to operate them. I would look to Kenneth Iverson for strong articulations of this viewpoint, and Roger Hui's work in the J language for how math teaching (of traditional topics) is accomplished through that language, as Python's emergence in this field somewhat along the same lines. If you go back to the start of the Edu-Sig archives, where I do most of this work, you'll find Tim Peters and Arthur Siegal using a math-through-programming approach. Tim cites 'Concrete Mathematics', Knuth a co-author, and similar to 'The Book of Numbers' in some ways (what Iverson-Hui take on). Siegal is doing projective geometry with Pygeo, which I think you'll still find, c/o his estate. I work with Ian Benson, a top curriculum writer in the UK, who is very connected in the Python community. Although Python itself is open source, a lot of private sector business do curriculum writing for profit, so some of these efforts aren't going to feature in academic papers. http://tizard.stanford.edu/groups/sociality/wiki/d4276/Visiting_Professorsh… I gave a talk to London Knowledge Lab on how I do Python, which you may be interested in, also my Chicago talk at Pycon last year drew large crowds, expecting even more this year, plus I have 3 hours this time [ and blah blah ] http://www.bfi.org/our_programs/bfi_community/python http://blog.showmedo.com/2008/07/30/your-pythonic-math-class-of-the-future-… Kirby """ So the way I'm thinking of it, we're all math teachers if we teach Python, a live (executable) math notation (MN) for implementing logic-numeric solutions to problems. We've been trained, especially in the Anglophone tradition, to maintain all these sharp turf lines, such that we might be computer scientists in some way, but even there, we're supposed to respect these various record locking schemes based on degrees and such claptrap. Mathematics is something removed from our purview and relegated to some elite that maybe only uses paper and pencil (or so "they" like to pretend -- many use Mathematica or MathCad most of the time i.e. live MNs, just as we do). Now that the concept of "namespace" has reached some maturity, I think it's easy to explain that namespaces differ in how they use key words (like "maths") and equating describing Python teaching or programming in general as mathematics is maybe not university-speak, but consistency in design is what we're looking for, not necessarily the approval of Oxbridge dons or whatever gowned authorities. So, on with the math teaching! Kirby PS: some of you may have wondered about my "Cockfight!" allusion, saying one of my computers was set aside for that purpose. It's just a concept. I'm not able to write a game as sophisticated as Spore coming from a tiny office with only a few partners, most of whom have other day jobs as well. I clarify this humble truth in my blog this morning, with a link back to this list. http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2009/01/cockfight.html

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Edu-sig BoF at PyCon
by Vern Ceder 12 Jan '09

12 Jan '09

It seems to me that it's time to start talking about what we'll do at PyCon. I'm assuming we'll want a space for a BoF meeting, as well as maybe going out dinner at least one night. Any thoughts? I've created an OpenSpace page on the PyCon09 site. the URL is http://us.pycon.org/2009/openspace/EduSig/ Once you create a site account (which you'll need to do to register anyway) you can edit it and your own info and suggestions. Cheers, Vern -- 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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Many Laptops per Adult
by kirby urner 11 Jan '09

11 Jan '09

So I met with an Eee guy @ Chaos place this afternoon, talking about branding: http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/3182546603/in/photostream/ Given the XO is so identified with OLPC, we were talking MLPA perhaps -- many laptops per adult. The idea is you check them out from work, differently configured per the job at hand, e.g. sometimes you're presenting about Apache on Linux, other times about Apache on Windows, so might have a "stable" of laptops. I'm not saying every adult cares to have all these laptops, just its a way to market separately from OLPC without muddying the waters. The Eee is an Intel box, doesn't have to run Windows, or maybe get a Dell preloaded with Ubuntu as your other top choice (closer to my configuration). Of course both OLPC and MLPA need funding sources, sponsors. I expect the UN will keep thinking of ways to jump in. Here's some more pro Django stuff on PPUG list (somewhat apropos, in terms of demoing Apache to lifers in cube farms): http://mail.python.org/pipermail/portland/2009-January/000538.html Kirby

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Python 2.6.1 build problems
by Arana Fireheart 08 Jan '09

08 Jan '09

Hi, I am trying to build Python 2.6.1 (upgrade) on Ubuntu 8.10 in preparation for a class next week. When I try to build it from the source files I run into two problems. 1. The first (resolved) was: Failed to find the necessary bits to build these modules: bsddb185 sunaudiodev I was able to reslove this by using a patch "python2.6-disable-old- modules.patch" 2. The second and currently un-resolvable issue is that the build fails to link in tkinter. I can't quite figure this one out, since I thought that this was part of Python. *** WARNING: renaming "_tkinter" since importing it failed: libtk8.5.so.0: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory Failed to build these modules: _tkinter running build_scripts arana@arana-linux:~/Desktop/Python-2.6.1$ Is there anyone out there that has figured out how to get this build to finish? I've kinda run out of tricks! Arana

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input from physics teaching
by kirby urner 08 Jan '09

08 Jan '09

I had a productive meeting with Dr. Bob Fuller, University of Nebraska, emeritus, yesterday, a long time associate on that First Person Physics proposal to NSF (close, no cigar). He's working on the Karplus legacy, in turn stemming from Piaget. http://controlroom.blogspot.com/2009/01/physics-update.html Science teaching went through a more successful transformation to "constructivist" (in the sense of student centered, construct your own model of reality) than USA math teaching managed (talking later 1900s), as the latter was mostly a panic response too Sputnik (so-called SMSG) and it's been a backlash ever since ("back to basics" to the point of near extinction of the subject, in terms of attracting fresh thinking). I'm not sure how it went in the UK, other Anglophone cultures. Others on edu-sig will have more place-based stories of curriculum writing (the evolution thereof) in your respective necks of the woods. Anyway, the physics community has been interested in video games as teaching devices right from the get go, with museum-grade simulators (like the ones pilots train in) representing a kind of high end state of the art (people actually get sick in those, given the realism). Speaking of getting sick, you'll find in my Vilnius slides, other places, a strong emphasis on "grossology" when working with kids. That's a part of kid culture I've always found missing from Squeak, which seems too squeaky clean, not sufficiently demented. For example, if using a system language and defining a function, you'll like encounter strong type awareness, meaning every type declared *and* in a specific order e.g. f(int x, str y) and g(str y, int x) are quite strict about what they "eat" (function as mouth) and if you send them the wrong args, they will "barf" (has to be OK to say that, or you lose a lot of would-be attenders). The "type awareness" we want to induce is very traditional and follows that time-honored sequence: N, W, Z, Q, R, C. You might not think if quite those terms (namespaces differ) but we're talking natural, whole, integer, rational, real and complex respectively. These are types, and there's an historical narrative explaining the drive to expand to new horizons, starting with simple geometric ratios such as the body diagonal of a cube (math.sqrt(3)) or of the 1 x 2 rectangle (math.sqrt(5)). Given the historical dimension, it's quite appropriate to give these primitive geometric relationships a somewhat neolithic spin i.e. some talk of "cave people". This helps anchor some data points for later, when we get into trigonometry and navigation techniques (over desert, over sea). http://www.flickr.com/photos/17157315@N00/sets/72157612202599023/ (gnu math teacher Glenn Stockton, expert in neolithic tool making, including for astronomical purposes) You get these right simple surds (e.g. phi, math.sqrt(2)) out of the gate, with compass and ruler, scribing in sand (on a spherical surface, so only locally Euclidean -- "close enough for folk music" as we say in geography class, zooming in on Greece in Google Earth maybe). Pi, unlike phi, is transcendental, not just irrational. I agree with posters here than Ramanujan is a great source of generators (in the Pythonic sense), plus I like playing that epic song. http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2008/02/reflective-fragment.html The complex numbers get added by those in the Italian peninsula, seeking to solve Polynomial Puzzles (Pisa a center for this kind of game playing, lots of betting, not unlike cockfighting). Fractals ala the Mandelbrot pattern, scribed in the complex plane, come latter ("phi is the first fractal" -- a mnemonic we use). However, given this is alpha-numeric literacy i.e. string-oriented as well as numerical, we don't stop with a recap of basic algebra. We need those regular expressions (good for URL parsing) and Unicode studies. Fine if the language arts teachers want to pick up the story at this point, take it away from the algebra teachers. We're talking DOM (Document Object Model), XML... what became of "the outline" in Roman times (structured thinking, rhetoric). I'd like to thank Ian Benson of Sociality / Tizard for confirming my impression that R0ml is correct in his approach, with strong emphasis on Liberal Arts (in healthy doses at OSCONs -- the guy is simply brilliant). 'Godel Escher Bach' is another trailblazing work, in making sure we keep the string games going, don't propagate the misinformation that "number crunching" is all that we're about. Knuth called 'em *semi*-numerical algorithms for a reason. But the question remains, if you *are* committed to keeping regular expressions within math: where to put them? I think the answer is pretty obvious: students need to work as a team to maintain some kind of Django web site, could be exclusively in-house (not public), with time line data, events in math history, adding and morphing over time. Actually parse URLs, triggering real SQL behind the scenes. This is all completely topical, very job market oriented. Yet we're in a constructivist realm, giving imaginations free play and lots of open-ended exploration time. I continue with the "gnu math" and "computer algebra" labeling, adding the Bucky stuff as a "secret sauce" -- spices it up to have something a little questioning of authority, especially in a math learning context, where some adults are accustomed to unchallenged authority. No longer, rest assured. Kirby

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some "place based" curriculum writing (with Python)
by kirby urner 05 Jan '09

05 Jan '09

I've continued exploring my "dodeca-cams in the Gorge" scenario, in connection with "memory banking" the environment as a legitimate school activity, similar to what my daughter's ecology school did around Oaks Bottom (Winterhaven, still going strong, but my daughter is in high school this year, whereas Winterhaven is a middle school -- where I taught Python to the entire 8th grade, GIS emphasis, lots of Google Earth (an entry point into XML, for registering location, location, location)).[1] These studies led me to connect the dots backward, to the beginning of photography in the Gorge in 1867, guy named Watkins. Landscape photography was a very new idea as the original degueurrotypes were one-offs and small, no such thing as large prints, forget about color. The only market that made sense at first, was taking pictures of individuals, portraits, close ups. Then a new chemical process was invented, very messy and sticky, that required development on the spot. So Watkins had literally tons of equipment to lug, back along the route taken by Lewis & Clark, to Celilo Falls, a natural wonder of the world until March 10, 1957 (Kodachrome comes into being around that same time).[2] Over on the Math Forum, it's again a conservative cabal saying "not our fault we control all future technology (we white guys, we proud)", me suggesting it's still a more complicated picture: lots of reorganization going on, town-gown relations in flux -- they always talk about "Main Street versus Wall Street" but other polarities matter as much, e.g. Google is very gowny.[3] To finish my story, a big consumer of "Celilo Falls power" i.e. of what became of it, The Dalles Dam, is our good friend and sponsor Google, right there at the site, with Amazon thinking to plug in to the same ecology. There's lots of optical fiber. Someone had foresight.[4] You'll see a lot more of the history in link [2] but I'm probably skipping over some IMAX movie about the Gorge, perhaps already out there i.e. I'm not giving anything close to a comprehensive story. This is all good material for public school students though, inspires them to keep studying in preparation for an interesting career with higher bandwidth multimedia, such as the Immersive Media recordings (e.g. Google Streets, filmed with dodeca-cams). A big trend in education is to make it "place based" i.e. really customize like crazy to make it cram packed with local history and lore, help students orient to exactly where they are, not some hum drum fictional Anytown USA or wherever. I'm adding momentum to that trend, yakking in very locally geographic terms, knowing each one of us has this same ability to assume local focus. Python works in many of these places, plays well in most ecosystems, a very cosmopolitan, "big city" language -- accessible, urbane, civic minded -- that does well in the wilderness (marketing angle). I'm still pushing the Rich Data Structure idea, again with local (custom) data, accepting bridges to JSON and XML, not trying to say "all Python, all the time" to anybody (that'd be boring). Kirby [1] http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/winterhaven/ [2] http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2009/01/columbia-gorge-recent-history.html [3] http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=1876834&tstart=0 [4] http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/12/12/amazon_goes_containers/

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ACM Urges Obama to Include CS as Core Component of Science, Math Education
by michel paul 03 Jan '09

03 Jan '09

http://www.acm.org/press-room/news-releases/obama-education "Computing education benefits all students, not just those interested in pursuing computer science or information technology careers," said Bobby Schnabel, chair of ACM's Education Policy Committee (EPC)<http://www.acm.org/public-policy/education-policy-committee>. Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can! - Michel

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