Hi Kirby, just read your article on Medium. Interesting thoughts, as always. I read something the other day which pointed out that in Chinese high school calculators are not allowed … possibly ever? It seems like a no-brainer to me to eliminate calculators from the K-12 system entirely, but apparently not to the powers-that-be. I’ve been in several math classrooms lately while subbing and the button sequences required to do simple things are just ridiculous, far-outweighing any emphasis on what one is doing via such sequences.
One question about code schools that I have is: Are their certificates recognized? I hate the thought of all the middle-man certification industry being imposed upon something good like PDX Code Guild, but it seems like the first potential issue that would come-up, i.e. how transferable and recognized is that accomplishment? I’m curious because I’d like to start one here in New Mexico, but I can already hear the skeptics and nay-sayers that I’ve heard so many times before … and I can see an efficient model getting bloated with collaborations with corporations which “certify” and “accredit” etc etc. The last couple months have been interesting for me, as an education software enthusiast substitute-teaching in the k-12 system. Many teachers purchase their own software and set of licenses because the school system won’t. Many teachers also pull-up free, online materials during class, and some of those are spewing flat-out incorrect information. For example, I was visiting a middle-school science class doing a “block” on renewable energy and the class began with a visit to a website (projected on the screen) in which the site defined torque as “a special kind of energy” and proceeded to build upon that (incorrect) definition over the rest of the “lesson”, culminating in questions that couldn’t be answered or were at-odds with the initial definitions provided. Another quick story: about 10 yrs ago my daughter was in middle school in the same public school system as I’m now teaching in. One day she told me that the sky was blue because the sunlight reflected off the ocean(!!!). Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, when I was covering science class at a different school (now 10 years later) and talking about Sun-Earth interaction and so forth. Out of curiosity I asked the class if they knew why the sky was blue? Everyone knew! It was because the sun reflects off the ocean! I asked other classes that day and got the same damn answer from each class. What do you call that? “Institutionalized mis-information”? Where is it coming from? These things are set in their minds by the power of the first impression or first encounter, in this case. This is just one example, and not the only one. This does not bode well for the future of our country. One last reflection: I’m now a long-term sub as a music teacher in the same elementary school that both my children attended. Irrelevant except that I love the school. I’ve never taught music and I’ve got up to nine classes per day with 20–25 kids per class. That’s 200 students from k-5 every day. I am regularly scrambling for cool things to do in class. I developed a music bingo game <https://github.com/ccosse/MusicBingo> (original to me but not the first) in the first weeks. That went-over very well and I’ve been thinking of ways to extend and improve upon it. I borrowed an iPad from the school and I’ve got a Raspberry-Pi3 setup as a server already. I’m thinking that a good software activity would be to have the kids sitting in a circle with their iPads and a bingo screen served by the R-Pi in the middle of the circle (or wherever). In other words, digital music bingo, whereas it’s currently just printed paper sheets and drawing notes etc from a hat. This type of setup appeals to me software-wise, as it would remain an interactive group activity and still make use of technology. The tech is right there in-their-face, still, but it might as well be a physical game board made of card stock. The benefit is that the teacher wouldn’t have to run around checking all the answers, and things like that. Code schools. Once again, it’s gonna come down to the teachers at the code school. God help us! On Wed, Mar 22, 2017 at 12:53 AM, kirby urner <kirby.ur...@gmail.com> wrote: > > Useful summary of on-line Python 3 tutorials, starting with the one in > docs.python.org itself: > > https://medium.com/@lockpaddy/10-resources-to-learn-python- > 3-9a735db7aff9#.mabvr7g8l > > Is it just me or am I sensing a strong pull towards Python 3, away from > 2.x? > > My meditation, also on Medium, published today, is a more generic > meditation on code schools. > > https://medium.com/@kirbyurner/is-code-school-the- > new-high-school-30a8874170b > > I mention Python quite a bit, in my appraisal of the looming digital > divide and how to bridge it. > > I've invited more math teachers to comment as what I write concerns them: > > http://mathforum.org/kb/thread.jspa?threadID=2845880 > > None of these are new themes on edu-sig. > > If you check my other Medium writings, you'll find a lot more (also blogs). > > Kirby > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Edu-sig mailing list > Edu-sig@python.org > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/edu-sig > > -- Linkedin <https://www.linkedin.com/in/charles-cosse> | E-Learning <http://www.asymptopia.org>
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