[Edu-sig] "dot notation" (in favor of sharing it)

[kirby urner]

I really like the traffic on edu-sig as I sense the whirl-winds from
here.  Nice overlook.

True story:  this summer I did another Martian Math class, a short fun
experience for self selected mid-teens with a penchant for math and
things academic, so there by choice, on a bright summer's day, but
only for five days, the last one with the guardians/parents coming in
and see what's been happening.

University of Portland let me use its very best facility,
semi-circular desks, up to date PCs, switches to open and close the
blinds, a projector, great sound, adapters for external laptops as
well as the instructor version...  wow, what a great setup!

However, here's the thing:  I'm working through a nonprofit agency
that piggy-packs on willing colleges and university (Oregon Graduate
Institute, Portland State, Reed College...) and so has to communicate
as aliens, non-campus in some ways.  Martian Math needed VPython if I
were to run all my prepared demos (which the students could fiddle
with).  I have my heart set on Vpython, yet the IDLE for it wouldn't
work, not at all.  No one had tested it.  It was added last minute,
when I sent around my memo "you remembered about VPython right?"

Bottom line:  we could import it in a terminal window version of
Python, if we added the path to sys.path to a remote subdirectory.  A
major pain and I spent quite a few minutes (spread out) apologizing
for the awkward setup and saying how, if they did this at home,
everything would be smoother.  Because that's what I hoped, that
they'd do this at home.

Which brings me to the moral of my story:  if your organizational
setup is just a little too complicated, then chances are it's just too
impractical to get all the pieces in place.  You'll spend energy and
get some of it working, but the lingering frustrations will remain
significant.

What you start to approximate is that "ideal home environment" that
you hope each student will be cocooning in for real studying.  School
is just a place to get ideas to then go off with and learn about.
It's too distracting and frustrating to really expect to get much
studying done, not in a classroom surely.

"Just give us stuff to study and let us come to your for help."
That's the flipped classroom and perhaps the developing model more
generally.  We'll give you stuff to chew on at the school, but you're
expected to do a lot of studying on your own somewhere else, like in
your "dorm" (wherever you go to sleep and relax).

That's the college model though, and with younger kids I think the
feeling has been it doesn't really work that way.

I will end with two responses to that objection:

(1) although I've cast this as a generational picture, there's nothing
to stop adults from learning more Python / Sage / Mathematics were
they to have the time and motivation, and that might happen to a
greater degree in this shifting sands picture, i.e. our primary
clients for all this content are / will be adults in many situations,
and just because one works with kids (say 21 and under) today, doesn't
mean one's only contribution is to the kid-ed biz in the long run.

(2) The virtual classroom you get at home is not necessarily an
entirely solo environment, removed from peer pressure to perform and
to do team work.  A buzzing coffee shop is a less formal setting, like
a student center.  The smartphones are coming along quickly but the
tablets even faster (still more innovation happening).  So we have
that moving target to aim for.  I have a scientific calculator on my
Razr / M.  As an adult, I wouldn't be bullied into exchanging it for a
TI.

We showed a lot of Youtubes with good sound quality.  Mandelbrots and
Mandelbulbs especially.  We got VPython working well enough.  Great
class.  The guardians/parents were impressed.  Thank you University of
Portland and Saturday Academy.  Blog writeup is here:

http://worldgame.blogspot.com/2012/08/adventures-in-teaching-and-driving.html
(tedious geographic details about driving, suggest skipping, only gets
into Python towards the bottom, but the pictures are good).

Kirby

On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 8:31 AM, A. Jorge Garcia <calcpage at aol.com> wrote:
> (Apologies if you've read this already. I posted it from my cell last week
> but I don't see it in the edu-sig forum archives.)
>
> It is such a battle at both the High School and College levels of Math to
> try anything new. All the traditional Algebraic and Graphing Calculator
> techniques are so ingrained that it's nearly impossible to change anything
> from what is taught to how it is taught! This inertia is most evident from
> the resistance you see from other teachers, professors and administrators.
> Perhaps, I have only myself to blame, as I was one of the first adopters of
> Graphing Calculators in the 1990s in my schools and now I'm trying to get
> everyone to use python/SAGE on PCs instead.
>
> So, imagine my surprise when said resistance came from my students this
> year! I have successfully incorporated python/SAGE into my CS curriculum
> without any such resistance. That change was easy as all we do in CS is code
> on PCs. We don't use Graphing Calculators very much in preCS or APCS anyeay.
> Well, this year, I had the bright idea of using python/SAGE in any Math
> class without a terminal exam, such as Regents and AP, involving Graphing
> Calculators. In NYS, kids need to work with Graphing Calculators all year in
> order to do well on Regents and AP exams in Math and Science. However, I
> have a preCalc class that doesn't answer to Regents or AP Exams. So, I tried
> to ween them off the GC but the kids are so used to using GCs as a crutch
> that it's been quite a slog through the mud!
>
> BTW, if you're interested, here's a YouTube Playlist I just started
> recording from my preCS class using python/SAGE and the Litvin's Discrete
> Math text (http://skylit.com/mathandpython.html):
> http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLL956Pn2cKSgLHSxQLPO6YIQ8VlxLPNgc&feature=plcp
>
> HTH,
> A. Jorge Garcia
> Applied Math, Physics and CS
> http://shadowfaxrant.blogspot.com
> http://www.youtube.com/calcpage2009
>
>
>
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