[Edu-sig] CP4E

[Kirby Urner]

> > Scenario:  what a lot of kids do in early grades is memorize some states
> > and capitals.
> 
> They do.  I did.
> 
> Like geometric objects in introducing OOP, a convention is being followed.
> The point not being the importance of knowing, by heart, the capitals of
> states.  The point being the importance of exercising the memorization
> facility.
> 
> What I see in your suggestion is, once again, the power of technology in
> the classroom to fix what isn't broken, or in fact break what's fixed - 
> not the opposite.
> 
> Art
> 

Well, if you buy the *whole* point is exercising the memorization facility,
then yes, this isn't broken, doesn't need fixing.

But I think the point is to provide a whole lot of paradigm "base level"
experiences which carve out a space for future growth.  Being able to
memorize is key, but so is being able to parse through a file -- wasn't in
your childhood, but is today.

I'm a kid at the Python shell.  Way cool I can grab a file-like object
containing a web page.  Then there's this control structure called a 'loop'
where you iterate through the lines, and do something with each one (perhaps
ignore it).

Should 5th graders know there's something called a 'control structure'?
Yes.

Bascially we're learning how to screen scrape and/or grep through
alphanumeric data, extracting what we need and tossing the rest.  That's
just a basic skill now, like knowing how to fill a fountain pen, back when
*that* was basic (but isn't now).

I'm happy to focus on baseball scores, movies, other stuff (doesn't have to
be states/capitals).  The pattern will be similar:  get a lot of data from
the web, loop through it with whatever tools you've learned or are learning,
save the results you want to keep, for later reuse.  Basic basic.  Except we
use Python, not BASIC.

Kirby

 >>> f = open('statecapitals.txt','wt')
 >>> for e in cs:
	f.write('%s, %s\n' % (e[0].title(), e[1].upper()))

	
 >>> f.close()

Did some hand parsing on the capitals:

Montgomery, AL
Juneau, AK
Phoenix, AZ
Little Rock, AR
Sacramento, CA
Denver, CO
Hartford, CT
Washington, DC
Dover, DE
Tallahassee, FL
Atlanta, GA
Honolulu, HI
Boise, ID
Springfield, IL
Indianapolis, IN
Des Moines, IA
Topeka, KS
Frankfort, KY
Baton Rouge, LA
Augusta, ME
Annapolis, MD
Boston, MA
Lansing, MI
St Paul, MN
Jackson, MS
Jefferson City, MO
Helena, MT
Lincoln, NE
Carson City, NV
Concord, NH
Trenton, NJ
Santa Fe, NM
Albany, NY
Raleigh Durham, NC
Bismarck, ND
Columbus, OH
Oklahoma City, OK
Salem, OR
Harrisburg, PA
Providence, RI
Columbia, SC
Pierre, SD
Nashville, TN
Austin, TX
Salt Lake City, UT
Montpelier, VT
Richmond, VA
Olympia, WA
Charleston, WV
Madison, WI
Cheyenne, WY