[Edu-sig] seasonal challenge to calculator dominance in high schools

[kirby urner]

On Sun, Jun 23, 2019 at 11:28 AM C. Cossé <ccosse at gmail.com> wrote:

> Hi Kirby,
>
> I think kids should write their own plotting routines to graph their
> functions starting anywhere 3rd-7th grade.
>
>
If they wish to, yes, so many optional branches.

I'm coasting along using everyday office productivity tools that make use
of code, scripts, nevertheless.

But since when in school does a kid get an office, a place to focus on
anything like coding?

In math class, you get a tiny desk, rows and columns, book open.

The calculator is designed to fit on that desk, and be a part of that whole
dynamic.

Very cramped ergonomics.  I question the ethics (= aesthetics).  The status
quo has grown stale.

In one lesson developing a simple solar system in pygame, for example, you
> can teach everything from the meaning of pi, periodic motion, dynamic
> graphics, orders of magnitude, scaling, OOP,  ... all kinds of stuff.  AND
> basically lay the ground-work for developing their own 2D plotting
> software.
>
> -Charlie
>


Yes, that's one way to teach that stuff.  I'm for continuing to curate
content for the various audiences.  Some students love Coding Train and I
can see why.  I've spent some hours with it myself.  Lots of great teachers
out there!

My current project (from whence that calculator page) is a take-off on the
movie 'The House of Tomorrow' wherein the star kid is being raised by his
Nana to be the next Buckminster Fuller.

Of course I'm intrigued, given RBF and Ludwig Wittgenstein (LW) were two
philosophers I've seriously studied.  We all have our hobbies, right?

However, as usual with a fictional work, or even with most documentaries on
the guy (not all): there's zero attention given the actual substance i.e.
the "whole number volumes table" (a meme).

In a 90 minute drama based on a fictional work, there's no time to look at
an actual curriculum (our star is home schooled, but what is he learning?
-- we have no clue, nice dome though -- tourists come check it out, set in
the pre-internet era).

'The School of Tomorrow' is my Github repo designed to provide this missing
puzzle piece, and add back the missing realism. [1]

I explain it all on the videos.

Kirby

[1]  https://youtu.be/UpEJysjcLBY  (recounting the genesis of the project)
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