[Edu-sig] Update on my PSF doings

[kirby urner]

>
> The second conversation is at IAEP
> (http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/2009-May/005466.html and
> http://lists.sugarlabs.org/archive/iaep/2009-May/005484.html), about
> the value of "similarities over differences" as a rare, remarkable
> cultural accompishment:
> http://learningevolves.wikispaces.com/nonUniversals I think "group
> theory for kids" is an excellent example of a higher-order similarity
> among many different ideas and objects (numbers, rotations, etc).
> Refusing to work with high-order similarities is a huge step
> backwards, culturally.
>

Coming up for air.  Good threads.  Thanks for the links.

I signed into the Coworking group with Google, seeing the Cubespace
connection, also ActiveSpace.  Both experiments are working well in
Portland, but what might be a more rural analog -- if we like the word
"rural" for Oregon's high desert.

The "group theory for kids" meme is an old one with me (also "clifford
algebra for kids" though I've done less with that one).  A key
connection is polyhedra i.e. most introductions dwell on symmetry
groups and we've already got lots going with those. **

In transitioning from tiny postage stamp screens (calculators) to full
sized LCDs (or XO sized notebook screen) there's a natural appetite
for more colorful polyhedra (using the term loosely, to mean "worlds"
of all kinds -- Second Life, Sims... Uru).

So we need a curriculum willing and able to map in that space ("beyond
flatland" I used to call it, e.g. 1997 ISEPP Math Summit, Corvallis,
Oregon 1997, Sir Roger Penrose and Dr. Ralph Abraham among the
luminaries).

Telling it autobiographically helps personalize the story, but we're
talking megatrends, lots of stories, all inter-weaving.  Not saying my
details are that important, just wondering if my predications are on
target:  bigger screens, more programming, more group theory, more
polyhedra (which ones?).

Given I'm from the international school circuit, I have an easy time
imagining bringing in some of these reforms through such venues.  I
used to chat with some guy in France on that topic, but we couldn't
find a shared wavelength.  Some of these other connections have worked
better over the long term.

Lately, I've been looking at the Philippines, joined the user group
(just for lurking).  They're into Django just like everyone else over
there.  But as Kaplan-Moss is very clear:  there's no point being into
Django if you're not also into Python more generally.

The Philippines is doing a strong business exporting math teachers
wanting to see more of the world, given the demand for Anglophone
speakers who know math teaching.  Lots in the news about this.

So... step one is giving permission to teachers to explain how the Web
works, as basic infrastructure (e.g. tcp/ip), not wait until college,
as a part of math class if not (also?) geography class.  Step two is
making it all more concrete via a school intranet (a place for
yearbooks, school plays, science fair posters).  If you're lucky, your
school will have one.

That's a "foot in the door" approach, after which we unfold the more
full-blown digital mathematics sequence(s).  Note that "digital
mathematics" means much the same thing as "discrete mathematics" but
may have better hooks in some zip codes (it's DM either way,
conveniently).

The preface to Litvins is good in this regard:

"""
If we could build a time machine and bring Euclid over for a visit, he
would find it comforting amid the chaos of modern technologies that
geometry familiar to him is still taught in schools. Old rivals Newton
and Leibniz would both find great satisfaction in the fact that tens
of thousands of 11th and 12th graders are learning how to take
derivatives and use integrals. But George Boole, a visitor from the
more recent past, would have to search through dozens of school
textbooks before he could find his algebra of propositions mentioned
even in passing, despite the fact that his name is immortalized in
every modern computer programming language. As for John von Neumann, a
brilliant mathematician and one of the fathers of computer
technology... well, with his usual optimism he would predict that
within 20 years or so, every elementary school student will learn
about the AND, OR, and NOT gates. And why not?
"""

[ the entire preface is on-line here:
http://www.skylit.com/mathandpython.html ]

Too little too late perhaps, but that's another discussion.  Anyone
remember Rocky's Boots?  Pretty fun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky%27s_Boots  (we've discussed it
before I think...)
http://www.warrenrobinett.com/rockysboots/  (something similar on XO
these days?)

There's no requirement to standardize on any one tool set, though FOSS
in general will likely continue dominating, given we're also teaching
community (aka ubuntu).  Joining some "secret team" might come later,
but in grade school you needed opportunities to develop those team
player skills (cyberspace is another sports arena in that regard, and
competitive even when open).

The emphasis is on learning new tools (including for working with
"math objects") and combining them, not getting too comfortable with
any one tool set.  Python is maybe stabilizing at its core, but the
libraries (including 3rd party modules), APIs to remote devices, is
just going to get more varied and capable, if history is any guide.

Kirby

> --
> Cheers,
> MariaD
>
> Make math your own, to make your own math.
>
> http://www.naturalmath.com social math site
> http://groups.google.com/group/naturalmath our email group
> http://www.phenixsolutions.com empowering our innovations
>

** per my class notes in Pycon Chicago, the approach to polyhedra I'm
exporting from Portland via OCN, is a confluence of several schools of
thought, more coming in from Gattegno's these days.  Jay Kappraff's
'Connections:  The Geometric Bridge Between Art and Science" was back
in my writings today on another list.  We're happy about some of the
curriculum writing we're getting out of Minnesota these days.  I tend
to dis the Lower48 in my political rhetoric (yawn), but not in such a
way as to preclude working with star teachers.
http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/ does have an Alaska bias though, I
admit it -- look closely at the logo.