[Edu-sig] Presentation on Learning Math with Python

[Peter Farrell]

Hello!

The Bay Area Python Interest Group invited me to speak at LinkedIn last
Thursday about using Python in math education. They asked that I work in
something about the Raspberry Pi, which (as the organizer of the SF
Peninsula Raspberry Pi Meetup group) I took as an invitation to overdo it.
So I loaded all my programs on my Pi 3 and did the whole presentation on
it: the slides, my Python programs, a web search and my Minecraft maze and
big honkin' pyramid.

People liked the visual, interactive, 3D stuff I showed them but they
seemed particularly blown away that I did the whole presentation on a Pi.
They made me hold it up afterwards to prove it.


[image: Inline image 1]


Yes, that's the 2D cellular automaton from page 172 of Wolfram's New Kind
of Science, in Minecraft.


LinkedIn was recording it but they said it'll be a while before they post
it. My colleague Ken Hawthorne was filming, too, and has posted his video
here <https://vimeo.com/175855273>.


Long story short, showing off is fun but I'd love to work with math
teachers and help them incorporate Python programming into all their math
lessons. And when they get some experience under their belt they'll be able
to do more challenging explorations like fractals, cellular automata and 3D
graphics. I never said it's going to be easy, but it can be more rewarding
and meaningful than the way I learned math back in the day.


Let me know what you think!

Peter
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