Mailman 3 February 2013 - Edu-sig

mathics - free alternative to Mathematica built on Python and SymPy
by michel paul 10 Feb '13

10 Feb '13

A student sent me this.: http://www.mathics.org/ It's Mathematica lite, for free. Though built with Python, Sage, and SymPy, it accepts Mathematica syntax and provides much of its basic functionality. In an age where anyone can do genuinely high quality math in their browser for free, that's what we should be showing the kids. I think things are going to be heading more in that direction, not less. -- Michel =================================== "What I cannot create, I do not understand." - Richard Feynman =================================== "Computer science is the new mathematics." - Dr. Christos Papadimitriou ===================================

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Python's keywords and functions convertor into native language for lowering entrance barrier
by Murat Jumashev 10 Feb '13

10 Feb '13

Hi, My name is Murat, I am from Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic (Central Asia). First off let me apologize if I chose a wrong mailing list (please, kindly point me a right mailing list to go). I am new to programming and I started from Python because it's very smooth and readable lang. But it would not be easy for me to start learning programming concepts without knowing basic English. What I want to ask is is it possible to create a (buffer/middleware) keywords and functions convertor-from-pythonese-English-to-pythonese-Kyrgyz (and vice-versa) so that students with poor/no English could start learning to code in their native language(s)? i.e. print / басуу, if / эгерде, else / болбосо, elif / же болбосо etc. I am impressed by the guy who have invented an arabic programming language in order to overcome a (natural) language barrier: http://killscreendaily.com/headlines/arabic-programming-language-middle-eas… But I think it's more rational to write a native-to-pythonese-convertor rather than inventing a new language from scratch. Can anyone tell me from where to start? Thank you.

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(no subject)
by Dan Peirce 07 Feb '13

07 Feb '13

The exploratory type of math that the high school is trying to teach unfortunately can be extremely time consuming and off-putting. The result is that I keep hearing "I hate math". On more than one occasion when one of my kids asked for help with math it occurred to me that we could gain insight into the problem using a computer. On those occasions I typically turned to a spreadsheet for the power it can give in quickly generating numerical results from simple expressions that could take a long time to produce with pencil an paper. This can make discerning patterns far less laborious. The question that has been nagging me is why are the schools not taking advantage of computers to teach math? Recently I have started to play around with Python. In part because I got my hands on a Raspberry Pi. So I came across Matplotlib and IPython. One of the instructors at my University decided to use Python in his 2nd year physics course where they are using differential equations. I have started looking for material related to python being used to teach high school math. So, I started googling Python Math K-12 to see what would come up. It looks like a number of schools have combined Math and programming in python. http://pyvideo.org/video/437/pycon-2011--panel--python-in-schools--teaching… http://cs.gettysburg.edu/~tneller/resources/k12/index.html http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbeHdg8mtdc http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/python/python/33832 As a parent it is kind of tricky to have the right material on hand at the right time for when any particular question comes up. Yesterday I thought I'd see what can be done with fractions. I discovered that there is a module for fractions but also that one can construct simple functions for gcd and lcm and not use the fractions module. I'm thinking this approach might be better for reviewing fractions. If I do end up using python to help my 15 year old with her homework I think that I had better be proficient at it or the demonstration will go flat. I have python on our computer now so she could actually explore it herself at any time. Searching up material on the web has turned a lot up but to talk to my daughter about it and educators as well it would be really helpful to have a good book on hand. I have noticed there are some quite divergent opinions on how to proceed. As a parent I need to be able to support whatever they are currently doing so material that goes off on different tangents won't be helpful.

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Re: [Edu-sig] Teaching Python via PyGame
by Lee Harr 03 Feb '13

03 Feb '13

> Can anyone point me to some links that support using Python as an introduction > to computing at an advanced high school level > > Can anyone point me to some reference material on tools used to teach python? I made a pygame framework a few years ago with a similar goal: http://www.nongnu.org/pygsear/ There is a book linked from that page that goes through writing pong and frogger using the framework. Recently I have moved away from Pygame to PyQt. I am working on updating Start Programming to video: http://pynguin.googlecode.com/ https://code.google.com/p/pynguin/wiki/StartProgramming Once students have some experience, they could try Pybotwar: http://pybotwar.googlecode.com/

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"Teaching Your Child To Hack Math"
by Dan Peirce 03 Feb '13

03 Feb '13

This looks like a possible approach to for a parent to engage an older child in using a computer to explore math. http://www.wiredacademic.com/2012/12/jonathan-mugan-teaching-your-child-to-… "This embodiment of math in programming enables your child to poke and prod math like it is a living thing, allowing learning to happen through experimentation." "Your child can also use programming to build a math toolkit that will be useful later. This toolkit can be used to check homework and do class projects. When your child learns a new algorithm in school, such as long division, he or she can program the algorithm in Python and use it to check intermediate computations. Having access to this toolkit and the ability to expand it will foster a habit of computational thinking. Your child can grow to be like a digital sorcerer casting spells and learning new ones." comments? Note my previous postg was related but I had forgotten to add a subject.

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Teaching Python via PyGame
by Fred Sells 03 Feb '13

03 Feb '13

I'm an old hand at Python, but really a programmer by trade, not an educator. Most programming courses that I've taken were very boring due to their focus on text input and response. I am exploring teaching Python to high school seniors as part of an advanced program. I thought that a more interactive environment like PyGame would provide more stimulation and a better understanding of logic thinking that the typical exercises I was exposed to. For instance, tick-tac-toe, checkers and monopoly can all be children of the base "BoardGame" class. And while tick-tac-toe may be practical, I doubt if checkers or monopoly would be. Can anyone point me to some links that support using Python as an introduction to computing at an advanced high school level and Can anyone point me to some reference material on tools used to teach python? Thanks, Fred.

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