It makes you wonder when people/children/adults do learn. I gave one of my grandchildren a number puzzle last sunrise-festivities and on the package said it was for 3+ and he is only now beginning to enjoy it - he turned 3 two months ago.
Some people seem to enjoy numbers and math and others do not. I guess it has a lot to do with the teachers you get and and how it is presented. I find for myself that I am constantly learning something new. Like yesterday I went to look at a new artificial intelligence tool and even if I have seen a lot of such attempts I think I learned something new. The interface was a browser and on top there were some general fields to fill in and then along the left side there were some yes/no questions to answer. Every time you answered the questions or filled in some field there was a connection to a tool placed on the top left side of the screen going from green to yellow to red and also showing some percentage. At the right side of the screen were some texts picked from a database according to the percent from the speedometer-tool. This tool is intended for doctors but could be for basically anything. The interesting part is that this is similar to what you have to do at a doctors visit and say you answer on a form a huge number of question that each can influence your state a little bit but most important is the whole picture. After you answer the form on paper, talk to a nurse and the doctor and some measurements are added you have to wait for a few weeks until the paper has been passed around and waited here and there and hardly anyone done more than casual estimates from gut feelings based on some of the answers and some of past experience. The new tool on the other hand gives an instant answer and is based on data from hundreds of doctors and their experience in the past. You hardly need the doctor there to fill this in. He might assist you in interpreting the results. This tool has been tested on several doctors and it always gave much better diagnos than they would have done themselves on their own without the aid. Some of them liked it and some were a bit scared of loosing their place in the system. As I said then what is new is the way it presented and using the browser in a clever way. It would be ideal for JHS and nothing J could not easily do there using the browser data for calculations and then pick some info from database and present it on the screen - easy. This application has a huge price and is considered for insurance companies and medical suppliers. 2011/12/14 Donna Y <[email protected]> > I did all that and more with my kids at ages and 9 and 13 (grade 5 and 8) > using APL 68000 for Amiga 1986 - we did music, animation, games - they > helped to write the programs for hangman, tic tac toe and other known games > plus some they made up > > they also played with the flight simulators that the adults were building > and testing > > If you teach them, they will learn! > > Donna > [email protected] > > > On 2011-12-14, at 2:05 PM, Roger Hui wrote: > > > I got myself invited to talk to a grade 7 math class at my kids' school. > I > > was given 20 minutes. The following is a record of the session of my > talk, > > with my comments added afterwards. > > > > 2 + 3 > > 5 > > 2 - 3 > > _1 > > 2 * 3 > > 6 > > 2 % 3 > > 0.666667 > > 2 % 5 > > 0.4 > > > > NB. I was told that the talk I had was "too advanced", so my goal > > NB. was to get across one main simple idea, the following one. > > > > 2 3 4 + 8 1 7 > > 10 4 11 > > > > NB. a student thought that 2 3 4 was 234, and gave 1052 > > NB. as the expected answer. > > > > 234 + 817 > > 1051 > > > > 2 3 4 - 8 1 7 > > _6 2 _3 > > 2 3 4 * 8 1 7 > > 16 3 28 > > > > NB. Some students seem quite smart, so I slipped in "insert". > > > > +/ 2 3 4 > > 9 > > */ 2 3 4 > > 24 > > 2+3+4 > > 9 > > > > NB. a student asked about order of operations > > > > 2 + 4 * 3 > > 14 > > 2 * 4 + 3 > > 14 > > (2 * 4) + 3 > > 11 > > > > NB. I wanted to tell them the story of Gauss as a schoolboy > > NB. summing the numbers from 1 to 100 in no time flat. > > > > +/ 1 2 3 4 5 > > 15 > > 1 2 3 4 5 + 5 4 3 2 1 > > 6 6 6 6 6 > > 5 * 6 % 2 > > 15 > > 100 * 101 % 2 > > 5050 > > 1 2 3 4 ... + 100 99 98 ... > > |spelling error > > | 1 2 3 4 ... + 100 99 98 ... > > | ^ > > > > NB. a student asked about exponentiation > > > > 2 ^ 3 > > 8 > > 4 ^ 3 > > 64 > > 2 4 ^ 3 2 > > 8 16 > > > > 2 ^ 123 > > 1.06338e37 > > > > NB. A student ask where he can get the software. Another asked "PC or > > Mac?" > > > > At the end, the teacher suggested I go talk to the high school (8-12) > > classes. > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
