I like Processing and c9.io for my Computer Science kids. We also used arduino studio with codrones.
My math students and I use python a lot on sagecell.sagemath.org. HTH, AJG Sent from BlueMail On Jul 4, 2018, 12:16 PM, at 12:16 PM, Andre Roberge <andre.robe...@gmail.com> wrote: >On Wed, Jul 4, 2018 at 12:09 PM Wanjun Zhang <by.wan...@gmail.com> >wrote: > >> Hi, >> >> We recently had to pick a beginner-friendly python editor for our >Invent >> to Learn summer program. We also teach a lot of Raspberry Pi based >Intro to >> Python workshops for kids and adults alike. In addition to >editor/IDE, >> there’s another category to consider - specialized education platform >- For >> instance, EarSketch <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EarSketch> is a >> programming environment made specifically to teach coding through >sound >> mixing. >> >> Over the years we tried Trinket.io, PyCharm Edu, Visual Studio Code, >Mu, >> iPythonNotebooks, Earsketch, Processing in Python mode, Thonny, IDLE >+ some >> I don’t remember. >> >> For us, it’s about prioritizing specific goals for our students and >our >> program. For the summer program we are working with FabLab Houston to >equip >> students with both maker skills and programming skills. They will >learn >> Python with the Raspberry Pi with first the Minecraft Pi api, then >sensor >> stuffs with Circuit Python on Adafruit’s Circuit Playground Learning >> Express, then Processing in Python mode to visualize some data with >> neopixels. For Fab Lab our goal is also to 1. train FabLab staff >members >> with enough programming skills so they can deliver the Invent to >Learn >> program without us, 2. produce open source curriculum from this >program for >> other makerspaces. >> >> Ultimately, I think it should be up to the specific teacher to pick >out >> features - as programmers we tend to look at specs and numbers, but >we must >> also prioritize setting up educators for success - they are the >frontline >> workers delivering the service. For instance, trinket.io is our go-to >> because a lot of educator’s don’t have admin access to their >computers, so >> web-based editor that is easy to use and specifically made for >education is >> great. However we do recognize the value in exposing our students to >tools >> that developers use - like PyCharm. >> This is our pro and cons list off of the top of my head for choosing >an >> editor for different partners and educators that we work with: >> >> - *Platform* - can we do things in command line on the computer that >is >> available to us, whether that’s a raspberry pi, mac, or pc? >Trinket.io is >> a great web-based solution if that’s an issue. >> >> - Existing *resources and community* - are there educator resources? >Is >> this random IDE made by one person as a marketing exercise? if open >source, >> when is the projects' last pull request? The Thonny Editor is awesome >> because there are a lot of high quality curriculum from >> https://projects.raspberrypi.org/ Same goes for Trinket.io. >> >> - Learning Curve for *educator *- If a teacher is teaching this and >not a >> developer, are they able to successfully use this tool? Do we expect >them >> to learn to use the terminal? Again, Trinket.io is a great starting >point. >> >> - Learning Curve for *student *- Does the IDE/Editor have too many >> options? Not enough? What is the cognitive load for the student. >> >> *- Utility for student* - Do we want to provide a real world >developer >> experience for our students? Or is our goal to have them build >something as >> to inspire. Is this a long term program or a short term project? Do >we want >> learners to quickly go through turtles (trinket.io) or be exposed to >> developer tools (pycharm)? >> >> After much consideration, we chose Thonny and also Python mode in the >> Processing IDE for our three week program. >> >> Hope this helps. >> > > >Yes, it does help very much. I like your choice of Thonny + >Processing. >And your list of criterion is very good and may be useful to many >people on >this list. > >/Digression about trinket, and an alternative that I designed > >I know that a lot of people like trinket.io. However, it has some >negative >points in my opinion: > >1. It uses an implementation of Python 2 - it is not compatible with >Python >3. To me, this is almost inexcusable. >2. It is not a completely free, open source solution. > >As web based alternative to trinket, I suggest my own site: >http://reeborg.ca/reeborg.html - which does support Python 3 and does >not >require users to log in. This has the downside that they cannot save >their >code on my site. However, it is possible to load code hosted elsewhere. >For >example, one could save some code on https://pastebin.com/ and load it >from >there. > >For graphics, Reeborg's World is based on using a Karel-like robot >instead >of a turtle mode ... BUT, one can (in principle) use turtle graphics on >it >-- I just haven't gotten around to incorporating the Brython turtle >module >into it. (It's on my list of things to do. I can bump it up in >priority >enough people are interested, willing to test it and provide feedback). > >While anyone can run arbitrary programs on it, it is designed to have >tasks >that can give feedback to students as to whether or not a given task >has >been accomplished. > >It also offers the *choice* of using an REPL or a block programming >interface. Students can do live "pair programming" (with 2 or more >people >working on a same program from different computers) - or this can also >be >done by a teacher guiding a student at distance. (For this feature, it >uses Mozilla's TogetherJS - which is not compatible with the block >interface designed by Google.) One can step through the code, examine >the >content of variables at every stage, etc. > >Because it is open source, anyone can get a copy of it and run it on >their >own site. (Many teachers do this, as their students have limited >access to >the Internet.) There's more that I could mention including an online >python tutorial which I wrote and which is available in 3 languages >(with a >4th one in the works), an online texbook (written by someone else) that >uses it, a printed book (published in France by another author) etc., >but >this should be enough motivation for anyone interested to have a look >at it. > >/End of digression > > > >André > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >_______________________________________________ >Edu-sig mailing list >Edu-sig@python.org >https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig
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