Subject: From calculators to computers -- the Python path
From: Kirby Urner (urner@alumni.Princeton.EDU)
Date: Thu Feb 10 2000 - 01:25:40 EST
Guido van Rossum recently convened a new special interest
group of educators and programmers interested in his
"Computer Programming for Everybody" (CP4E) proposal.
Note: "Python" refers to "Monty Python" more than to the
snake, but both allusions have been elaborated upon within
the Python community.
As a contributor to this listserv, I've been pursuing
a long term thread of trying to trailblaze a worthwhile
approach to math learning which is more computer-intensive
than calculator-intensive, i.e. shows one possible way
(among many) in which teachers could be taking the leap.
Here's the preamble to a recent post of mine. Note that
I talk about K-12, but most of what I'm saying easily
applies at the community college level.
===========================
Here's another good approximation of where I'm thinking to go
with "Python notation" in the context of a prototypical math
class.
In USA K-12, we're mostly working with calculators in early
2000, with relatively few kids having access to an interactive
command line (aka an REPL environment). The text books don't
have much beyond obsolete BASIC, if that, and nothing about
the object oriented paradigm.
Whereas some language gurus posting here have advocated forming
a united front against the hegemony of C/C++ (nevermind for
the moment that Python is written in C++), I have a slightly
different, perhaps complementary focus: helping math teachers
move beyond their graphing calculators into the world of
full-fledged computers.
This move from calculators to computers is likewise a move
"beyond flatland" into fully spatial geometry, and to a
broader treatment of symbolic operations, with a greater
range of data structures and operations making it into the
standard curriculum.[1]
These lesson plans are about showing how one can leverage Python
and other tools (e.g. Povray), along with pre-existing K-12
content (in this example coordinate geometry), to achieve a
usefully synergetic result.
Students learning enough Python to scan/write code such as
included below will be gaining insight into both computing
and mathematics at the same time, in the context of an inter-
active, self-reinforcing environment conducive to further
play and self-directed exploration.
The teacher in such a classroom will need to know enough
Python to keep students moving along towards their goals,
but need not be a top-level Python guru. A good grasp of
the underlying mathematics remains the more important
qualification for successful communication of this content,
plus experience in various time-tested methods of pedagogy.
Kirby
4D Solutions
[1] See: http://www.inetarena.com/~pdx4d/ocn/trends2000.html
===========
Another Lesson Plan (first draft):
Going Graphical: Where Python Meets Descartes
by Kirby Urner, Oregon Curriculum Network
Ver. 1.0, Feb 09, 2000
Originally posted to edu-sig@python.org
Coming soon: web version
Full text of the above at:
http://www.python.org/pipermail/edu-sig/2000-February/000124.html
This draft has some typos -- working on an improved web version.
Kirby
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