I've been haunting the math-teach list, as usual, suggesting we take a page from AP computer science and build our math around an interlinked, themed, consistent set of story problems -- rather than making these "meaningless" (deliberately). The opponents in this debate bring up the specter of political manipulation, propaganda, tainted "pure math" with someone's good ideas about applications. My approach to math teaching, as readers here know (some of 'em), is to bake OO into the matrix pretty early, meaning the idea of "math objects" (vectors, polyhedrons, rational numbers) connects to our Pythonic notion of types. Here's some background reading for any wanting to sample the more detailed nuances of this thread (on-going, and for over a decade for sure). http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2289577&tstart=0 (most posters long time veterans of this list, with carved out positions) I also take it a step further in that the story problems under consideration often have a strong "off your duff" component, in that your mathematical reasoning translates into physical expenditure of energy. Yes, sounds a lot like summer camp (the "self quantification movement" also syncs up). http://fastwonderblog.com/2011/07/30/crunching-the-numbers-open-source-commu... http://hashtags.foxepractice.com/healthcare-hashtag-analytics.php?hashtag=Qu... http://www.4dsolutions.net/presentations/urnermindstorm.pdf Kirby
Greetings, Kirby, just thought I'd throw-out-there that physics/astronomy can offer a context that is neither meaningless, nor open to political propaganda. Of course anything can be twisted, but at least it's relatively free from the specters that your opponents point out. Just a .02 cent thought .... Cheers, Charles Cosse On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 10:40 AM, kirby urner <kirby.urner@gmail.com> wrote:
I've been haunting the math-teach list, as usual, suggesting we take a page from AP computer science and build our math around an interlinked, themed, consistent set of story problems -- rather than making these "meaningless" (deliberately).
The opponents in this debate bring up the specter of political manipulation, propaganda, tainted "pure math" with someone's good ideas about applications.
My approach to math teaching, as readers here know (some of 'em), is to bake OO into the matrix pretty early, meaning the idea of "math objects" (vectors, polyhedrons, rational numbers) connects to our Pythonic notion of types.
Here's some background reading for any wanting to sample the more detailed nuances of this thread (on-going, and for over a decade for sure).
http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2289577&tstart=0
(most posters long time veterans of this list, with carved out positions)
I also take it a step further in that the story problems under consideration often have a strong "off your duff" component, in that your mathematical reasoning translates into physical expenditure of energy.
Yes, sounds a lot like summer camp (the "self quantification movement" also syncs up).
http://fastwonderblog.com/2011/07/30/crunching-the-numbers-open-source-commu...
http://hashtags.foxepractice.com/healthcare-hashtag-analytics.php?hashtag=Qu... http://www.4dsolutions.net/presentations/urnermindstorm.pdf
Kirby _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
-- AsymptopiaSoftware|Software@theLimit http://www.asymptopia.org
On Fri, August 26, 2011 2:42 pm, Charles Cossé wrote:
Greetings, Kirby, just thought I'd throw-out-there that physics/astronomy can offer a context that is neither meaningless, nor open to political propaganda.
It turns out that many Young-Earth Creationists deny the existence of all of geology (including all methods of dating rocks using radioactive isotopes) and most of astronomy. We cannot, in their view, see light from objects more than 10,000 light-years away, which is most of this galaxy and all of any others, and nothing that we can see can be older than that. But they generally won't fight you on those issues the way they will on all of us being descended from (presumably Black) Africans, and they won't insist on the stars being part of the solid firmament over the Earth where the rains came through in Noah's Flood. ^_^
Of course anything can be twisted, but at least it's relatively free from the specters that your opponents point out.
What?!? You don't know about NASA faking the moon landings?
Just a .02 cent thought ....
I have one word for any of you who want meaningful story problems: sports The leading world sports, including baseball, soccer, cricket, rugby, tennis, and golf, have well over a century each of recorded statistics of amateur and professional leagues. One can do all kinds of probability and statistics, of course; the combinatorics of tournaments; the paradoxical aspects of rating systems; and a wide range of physics problems. There is no need for synthetic interest when you have the real thing. Students who don't care for sports can do chess (human or AI) or whatever else of comparable depth interests them. Or politics, thus leading to the thorniest question of civics: What should we do when government does not act in a satisfactory manner? in parallel with the question What should we do when the rules or laws of a game or of a tournament are clearly unsatisfactory? (Officiating in World Cup Soccer has come under particular criticism in recent years, as has the practice of deliberately making a red card (expulsion) foul in the last minute of a game to prevent a goal by the other side.) I recommend the book Money Ball for showing how questions of genuine interest in sports have had real financial consequences in US baseball. For example, fans love batting averages, but on-base percentage is a much better predictor of winning games.
Cheers, Charles Cosse
On Fri, Aug 26, 2011 at 10:40 AM, kirby urner <kirby.urner@gmail.com> wrote:
I've been haunting the math-teach list, as usual, suggesting we take a page from AP computer science and build our math around an interlinked, themed, consistent set of story problems -- rather than making these "meaningless" (deliberately).
The opponents in this debate bring up the specter of political manipulation, propaganda, tainted "pure math" with someone's good ideas about applications.
My approach to math teaching, as readers here know (some of 'em), is to bake OO into the matrix pretty early, meaning the idea of "math objects" (vectors, polyhedrons, rational numbers) connects to our Pythonic notion of types.
Here's some background reading for any wanting to sample the more detailed nuances of this thread (on-going, and for over a decade for sure).
http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2289577&tstart=0
(most posters long time veterans of this list, with carved out positions)
I also take it a step further in that the story problems under consideration often have a strong "off your duff" component, in that your mathematical reasoning translates into physical expenditure of energy.
Yes, sounds a lot like summer camp (the "self quantification movement" also syncs up).
http://fastwonderblog.com/2011/07/30/crunching-the-numbers-open-source-commu...
http://hashtags.foxepractice.com/healthcare-hashtag-analytics.php?hashtag=Qu... http://www.4dsolutions.net/presentations/urnermindstorm.pdf
Kirby _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
-- AsymptopiaSoftware|Software@theLimit http://www.asymptopia.org _______________________________________________ Edu-sig mailing list Edu-sig@python.org http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
-- Edward Mokurai (默雷/धर्ममेघशब्दगर्ज/دھرممیگھشبدگر ج) Cherlin Silent Thunder is my name, and Children are my nation. The Cosmos is my dwelling place, the Truth my destination. http://wiki.sugarlabs.org/go/Replacing_Textbooks
2011/8/27 <mokurai@earthtreasury.org>:
It turns out that many Young-Earth Creationists deny the existence of all of geology (including all methods of dating rocks using radioactive isotopes) and most of astronomy. We cannot, in their view, see light from objects more than 10,000 light-years away, which is most of this galaxy and all of any others, and nothing that we can see can be older than that. But they generally won't fight you on those issues the way they will on all of us being descended from (presumably Black) Africans, and they won't insist on the stars being part of the solid firmament over the Earth where the rains came through in Noah's Flood. ^_^
Cosmologies come under geography in my Geometry + Geography heuristic. I encourage sharing many cosmologies and use a spectrum of literal versus symbolic (to be simplistic about it). Karen Armstrong wrote pretty well on this didn't she ('Battle for God' etc.) Some creation myths, such as Bucky's in 'Tetrascroll', aren't designed to be taken literally ("a cosmic fairy tale" is the subtitle). I liked 'Sita Sings the Blues', an adaptation of the Ramayana. http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2011/08/sita-sings-blues-movie-review.html I'm hoping Gagus will like my idea of using Indonesian shadow puppets to teach Python. We have enough lighting for puppets after dark. Welcome to XO country right? Rugged and outdoorsy. Richard Stallman in Sri Lanka: I have a poster about that in my blog. http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2011/04/richard-stallman-at-psu.html
Of course anything can be twisted, but at least it's relatively free from the specters that your opponents point out.
What?!? You don't know about NASA faking the moon landings?
Lets cut people some slack though: they are often the target of misinformation campaigns. Salvos go out daily from these "news sources" as you know. NASA's are pretty good (I subscribe to a news feed). Some others are pretty terrible. In general the defenses seem kinda weak around here, even against only mediocre spin doctors. I've got a pretty entertaining rant about that from 2005: http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2005/12/big-foot-strikes.html
Just a .02 cent thought ....
I have one word for any of you who want meaningful story problems: sports
Yes, sports is a fine entry point, I agree, especially when you zoom in on the human body and just focus on athletics in the sense of scripted / practiced motion, picking up dance, theater and musical performance. In the field I describe, we've had a triathlete join us, using our story problem output as a chief source of nutrition. Solving our story problems requires exertion. Not everyone is equally able to do all the problems, but that's not a big worry. We talk about our various gifts and leadings and divvy the labor. Self organization is key, without too much overhead. One of my fears is that as we grow bigger and more successful, our bureaucratic layer will grow.
The leading world sports, including baseball, soccer, cricket, rugby, tennis, and golf, have well over a century each of recorded statistics of amateur and professional leagues. One can do all kinds of probability and statistics, of course; the combinatorics of tournaments; the paradoxical aspects of rating systems; and a wide range of physics problems. There is no need for synthetic interest when you have the real thing. Students who don't care for sports can do chess (human or AI) or whatever else of comparable depth interests them. Or politics, thus leading to the thorniest question of civics: What should we do when government does not act in a satisfactory manner? in parallel with the question What should we do when the rules or laws of a game or of a tournament are clearly unsatisfactory? (Officiating in World Cup Soccer has come under particular criticism in recent years, as has the practice of deliberately making a red card (expulsion) foul in the last minute of a game to prevent a goal by the other side.)
Questions of ethics matter yes. And what are young bodies doing with themselves to keep in shape? We usually separate that question from mathematics, but as I've been saying, the self quantification movement is suggesting a lifestyle where we take bold interest in our many personal statistics. This naturally feeds into the baseball fascination (for example), where statistics have been king for a long time. I'd not want to encourage couch potato approaches to sports. Archery. Now there's a good one. Also skating of various kinds, and skiing (including on water). First Person Physics fits in here too. As a certified scuba diver, I can tell you we got quite a bit of physics and chemistry in the lectures. Gas laws, Boyle's Law, no Gibbs Phase Rule that I recall but it would have fit.
I recommend the book Money Ball for showing how questions of genuine interest in sports have had real financial consequences in US baseball. For example, fans love batting averages, but on-base percentage is a much better predictor of winning games.
I write about geocaching quite a bit... (have done some, more planned). Facility with statistics bolsters the school's ability to marshal data about its local environment. Ideally, a school is a repository of local lore and history (which the students study). In practice, the local is often eclipsed by some "standard" (blech). Doesn't have to be either / or. I don't want to give the impression it's all about statistics though. My thread with the math teachers goes into geometry quite a bit, usually spatial, not just plane. Then there's a passage on Vegetable Group Soup, which turns out to be group theory (Galois Fields, Cayley Tables and like that). There's Python for this part, but also Flash, JavaScript, lots of other stuff. Kirby
My students are having fun writing python functions to estimate definite integrals, http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2012/03/quarter-iii-week-6-screencasts.htm... HTH, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
My students are using python and SAGE to do Riemann Sums! http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2012/03/quarter-iii-week-7-screencasts.htm... HTH, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
Hi, On Tue, Mar 27, 2012 at 6:56 PM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage@aol.com> wrote:
My students are using python and SAGE to do Riemann Sums!
http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com/2012/03/quarter-iii-week-7-screencasts.htm...
About a week ago, you had posted a very similar message to sage-edu and got negative criticism due to it leading directly to a donation request instead of a readily enjoyable relevant content. Then you had improved upon your message by giving direct links to your Sage worksheets (which was nice, I think). So, why a retrograde step on python-edu just one week later? Berkin
OOPs, wrong link! https://sage.math.clemson.edu:34567/home/pub/297/ Fear not, this is a direct link to my published worksheet where we cleaned up out functions a bit. Enjoy, A. Jorge Garcia Applied Math and CompSci http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
participants (5)
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A. Jorge Garcia -
Berkin Malkoc -
Charles Cossé -
kirby urner -
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