Are you going to teach programming (eg, Python) in this course? Seems like you are leaning towards discrete math+precalc topics. Is that correct?
On Sat, Jun 5, 2010 at 11:40 AM, michel paul <[email protected]> wrote: > To make a long story short, I won. I'm very happy to be able to say that. > It was an unbelievable roller coaster ride - at one moment it seemed like > it would happen, at another I got kicked in the teeth. Round and round. I > started on the very first day of school this year, and it's taken until now, > but finally, it's going to happen. I get to create a computational math > analysis course for next year. > Here are some things I've been thinking about - it seems that in the PreCalc > texts used at our school, sequences, series, combinations, probability, etc. > are all handled towards the end of the second semester. However, in a > computational approach, it seems that sequences and series should be done > early first semester, as all kinds of things can then be constructed from > them. Thinking in terms of lists created from other lists is fundamental. > That stuff should be done early. And I think there should be more emphasis > on number theory. Our traditional texts don't really get into that. The > fact that the primary types of number are programmable data types in Sage I > think is really cool, and I'd like to make good use of that in an analysis > course. > I also think matrices should be done early. Again, in our current texts > this is a later topic. But in a computational approach it's easy to think > of and create a list whose elements are other lists. > Does it make sense to say that our current secondary curriculum is organized > as it is because it evolved in an age of handwriting? When doing things by > hand we tend to emphasize single letter variables, but when doing things > computationally it makes a whole lot more sense to use descriptive variables > and function names. > One of the big points I made in presenting a computational approach is that > all kinds of lip service is paid to the theme of 'writing in the math > curriculum', but no one is quite sure what that entails. Well, that's what > programming is! Programming is using language to describe unambiguously how > to solve problems of a certain type. > I would be very interested in practical suggestions anyone might have for a > computationally organized high school math curriculum. Ultimately I think > an entirely new kind of high school math curriculum will be necessary, but > at the moment, here in the trenches, it's one step at a time. > Thanks very much, > Michel > -- > "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.
