As Minh said, email [email protected] as described at the bottom of every email you receive on this list.
On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 6:23 PM, Jenya Polyakova <[email protected]> wrote: > > > ________________________________ > From: prathap sridharan <[email protected]> > To: [email protected] > Sent: Tue, December 8, 2009 2:31:17 PM > Subject: Re: [sage-edu] How using Sage for high school math effectively? > > This might sound a bit tangential to some but in my mind is very relevant. I > think using the Litvin text to create a Math/CS course would be awesome. I > think what would further motivate students overwhelming to the point of > forcing the faculty to seriously give this some consideration is a course > that teaches python along the lines of Litvin but the problems the students > are solving are Math puzzles. > To me this has a 2 fold positive effect: > 1) You are getting kids ready for the real world by teaching them > programming in a real world computer programming language > 2) You are getting kids really excited about mathematics. It is no secret > that most students are in the Math class because they have to be. Almost > everything being taught in high school can be motivated in the form of a > puzzle. Martin Gardner's books are excellent for that. > So if you teach this CS class using python/sage and use it to solve > recreational math problems, you really have something here. > Thanks, > Prathap > > On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 1:59 PM, michel paul <[email protected]> wrote: >> >> I can't claim it's effective, but so far this is what I'm doing - >> >> As much as possible I try to use the SAGE notebook as my blackboard. At >> the beginning of this year I had my students open their own SAGE notebook >> accounts as their first HW assignment. >> >> In my Analysis classes I enter the example problems for the lesson using >> LaTeX beforehand. Then in class I show them various ways to express the >> ideas in Python/Sage. My school uses SmartBoard airliner slates, so I use >> that to write directly on top of the SAGE notebook. That's useful for >> comparing the computational approach to the traditional hand-written form. >> I then publish the notebook page at sagenb and post the link along with the >> HW assignment online. >> >> In my FST (Functions, Statistics, Trig) classes I'm actually having them >> learn pure bare-bones Python! Around the 10-week marking period I could see >> that the mid-semester doldrums had start to set in, so one day I asked, >> "Would you guys like learn Python?" I was very pleased to get a strong >> positive response, as I've been trying for years to create a fusion CS/math >> course and have been met with unbelievable resistance, both from students >> and staff. The primary reason the students have been resistant has to do >> with grades. The kids at our school are terribly grade conscious, and the >> suggestion of using Python in class immediately sounds 'hard'. The primary >> reason for resistance on the part of my colleagues and department chair has >> to do with graphing calculators. Their attitude is, hey, we've got these >> great calculators. Why introduce something else when the calculator is 'good >> enough?' Wow - I am still amazed as I reflect back on all the frustrating >> conversations I've had. I keep saying, look, these things are used NOWHERE >> outside of a high school math classroom. Why not show the kids how things >> are ACTUALLY done? >> >> So fortunately the kids were interested in exploring Python. Though you >> can use Sage without knowing Python, I think it's a whole lot better to >> become fluent in bare-bones Python to get the most out of Sage. According >> to our curriculum, we are supposed to be studying transformations of >> functions and data - so I've been doing lots of stuff with list >> comprehensions. I've been having them do stuff in the Python shell, and >> then showing them how the same thing also works in Sage, plus you get lots >> of other great stuff, like easy graphing. >> >> One thing I've concluded - though it is possible in SAGE to directly plot >> various functions, I think it's better for the kids to first construct lists >> of ordered pairs as list comprehensions and then to plot them using 'points' >> or 'line'. That way they can see by doing that as you increase the number >> of steps you get a smoother and smoother graph. >> >> My dream is to create a fusion math/CS course. I came an inch close to >> having it happen for this year - but the course wasn't really supported by >> my dept chair and was never officially put into the schedule, so kids >> couldn't sign up for it. However, as it turns out, there actually was more >> interest on the part of the students than the administration wanted to >> admit, and I'm continuing to push for it. Eventually it HAS to happen. >> >> Ultimately I want to create a Computational Analysis course using the >> Litvin text Math for the Digital Age. I think it would be a wonderful >> book. We would begin there, and whatever topics in the Analysis curriculum >> that were not addressed in that book we would bring in as needed. >> >> I'm very much interested in getting something like this to happen, and I'd >> like to know if anyone is doing something like that anywhere. >> >> - Michel Paul >> >> >> On Tue, Dec 8, 2009 at 10:16 AM, Chris Seberino <[email protected]> >> wrote: >>> >>> How are people using Sage for high school math effectively? >>> >>> I've tried a few things and discovered it isn't obvious how to use >>> Sage effectively for high school students. >>> >>> (This isn't a fault of Sage, but rather, is caused by fact that good >>> teaching is hard and students aren't simple machines.) >>> >>> Chris >>> >>> -- >>> >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "sage-edu" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en. >>> >>> >> >> >> >> -- >> "Computer science is the new mathematics." >> >> -- Dr. Christos Papadimitriou >> >> -- >> >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "sage-edu" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]. >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en. > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "sage-edu" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en. > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "sage-edu" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/sage-edu?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "sage-edu" group. 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