Math for self-learning girls

[roberto]

I've been given (by their parents) a couple of middle school girls. They want to "dig deeper" in Math, don't generally like the way they're taught in school and want to start a self-paced learning, in middle school algebra and geometry, computer-mediated.

I thought about geogebra, and am looking into 

http://www.geogebra.org/en/wiki/index.php/English#Mathematics:_Middle_School

Any other suggestions for resources ?

I want them to experiment with Math, not just answer questions while moving sliders...

Thanks!

--
Roberto

[Dani Novak]

What is nice about GeoGebra is that the user can construct things and create simulations and mathematical models.  Look at this site:

http://geogebrawiki.wikispaces.com/

--Dani

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[Oleg Gleizer]

Dear Roberto,

I work for LAMC, Los Angeles Math Circle run by the UCLA Math. Dept. We
post all our handout on the Circle's web-site free of charge. Please
take a look at our "Circle Archive" page.

http://www.math.ucla.edu/~radko/circles/archive.shtml?

For example, I taught a mini-course on place-value numerals in the Fall
2013. You will see the first handout here.

http://www.math.ucla.edu/~radko/circles/lib/data/Handout-541-664.pdf

As most of my handouts, this one opens up with a warm-up part. The
course itself begins on page 4.

The next handout was a problem solving session tilting a bit towards
place-value numerals.

http://www.math.ucla.edu/~radko/circles/lib/data/Handout-553-672.pdf

We get back to the course in the third handout.

http://www.math.ucla.edu/~radko/circles/lib/data/Handout-562-689.pdf

And so forth. If you decide to use our handouts and get any questions,
I'd be happy to help.

Very Truly Yours,

Oleg Gleizer.

[John Sharp]

There are lots of ideas in

http://www.girlsangle.org/page/bulletin.php

John S

--

[Maria Droujkova]

Roberto, 

Maybe once they experiment with you, they can make a short video to share with others. For example, a screencast from GeoGebra with some drawings by hand. To inspire them, share Vi Hart videos with them, like Infinity Elephants. Vi Hart inspires a lot of girls to make their own math. I will be happy to publish their video (or a story, or picture, or any other project) at our Moebius Noodles, and to recommend where else they can publish.

Cheers,
Dr. Maria Droujkova

moebiusnoodles.com
919-388-1721

-- .- - ....

On Sun, Sep 21, 2014 at 1:04 PM, roberto <robe...@gmail.com> wrote:

--

 

[Paul Libbrecht]

Roberto,

I am sure i2geo.net can help you here.

Take single topic and type it on http://i2geo.net/xwiki/bin/view/Search/ e.g. Thales circle theorem, resources about functions, triangle similarity, congruencies and a few others..

There is a search by educational-level but it is only for very precise Europe-oriented levels. We should indeed have a search by age one day.

paul

[roberto]

Thank you all for these amazing resources.

I'll have to choose one or two only, but will keep you posted in the future!

Best

--
Roberto

[Joseph Austin]

Roberto,

Consider StarLogo and its successors (TNG, Nova) from MIT http://education.mit.edu/starlogo/

This simulation language is derived from Seymour Papert’s LOGO (Turtle Graphics)

• Seymour Papert, Mindstorms: Children, Computers, and Powerful Ideas, 1980, ISBN 0-465-04674-6

It allows the students to learn basic programming (algorithmic) concepts and to develop simulations involving geometry, probability, and the basic concepts of differential equations, and I believe it is easily accessible to young students.

In any case, I would recommend activities that allow students to discover the properties of various functional relationships among quantities (linear, geometric (polynomial), exponential, probabilistic, etc) and group theory, as these are the mathematical foundations for science.

Joe Austin

[Peter Farrell]

I agree completely with using computers to ramp up the math exploring, and Mindstorms is a life-changing book.

I prefer NetLogo as a Logo environment because StarLogo kept crashing on me. I posted an intro video at

http://youtu.be/BQBLRAoS3Ug

After having fun with turtles, it's just a small step to Python programming.

Have fun!

Peter Farrell

[Joseph Austin]

Peter,

Thanks for the info on NetLogo. I’ll have to check it out.

And your video seems pretty thorough—I’ll have to try it on my granddaughters!

I’ve been out of the classroom for a while—last used StarLogo about 10 years ago!

Joe Austin

[kirby urner]

Netlogo has been huge at the university level, at Portland State University.

The Systems Science program has put a lot of emphasis on Netlogo. 

That's a PhD track... of uncertain future I suppose is fair to say (I've been a guest speaker for SysSci and tracked the history; I'm not a PSU alum).

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLkCiNL_gZp2f9NB7Woaod9kPJjjq-sweK

Melanie Mitchell...  Logo in general is great for visualizations. 

Like a lot of us, I have a long of history with the Logo trajectory / community -- s'been fruitful eh?  Ongoing.

Kirby

[Joseph Austin]

Logo is based on the same “differential description” principle as differential equations, which is the foundation of mathematical physics.

In the traditional curriculum, students don’t get to diffeq until grade 14 at earliest.

But if middle school kids can understand LOGO, why not introduce “differential thinking” and modeling earlier?

With computers, they could express “rocket science” in differential form and let the computers do the “hard part”.

Also, exponential growth can be easily modeled with computers; we could model spread of Ebola, global warming, etc.

I think we need a way to significantly compress the time it takes for kids to understand the “real” science of quantum physics,

molecular biology, probability, etc. and the traditional computation-based math curriculum will not get us there.

Even non-scientists should have some kind of intuitive feel for what scientists do, to keep them honest.

I’d love to see what the girls would come up with if you give them NetLogo and a few interesting challenges.

Joe Austin

 

[Tom Fullerton]

Interesting points Joe,

I agree we can make modeling and other "advanced" concepts accessible to younger students using software and inquiry learning done well. 

I've used Tinkerplots as a way of playing with data and would recommend Stella as a modeling program for activities such as you are proposing. 

http://www.iseesystems.com/softwares/Education/StellaSoftware.aspx

http://www.keycurriculum.com/products/tinkerplots

I'm not familiar with an opensource app that works as well as these. 

Be well,

Tom

On the road or in the air

[roberto]

Thanks again for these suggestions.

I'm more than interested in introducing "higher"-level Math concepts to younger kids. As we know they can master them in a different, maybe iterative and discrete way. And programming is probably the leading path into that.

If anyone is willing to share resources about this approach, I'll be grateful.

Best

--
Roberto

[kirby urner]

Hi Roberto --

I invite you to visit a page inspired by Computer Programming for Everybody (CP4E),
at one time a DARPA-funded educational initiative:

http://www.4dsolutions.net/ocn/cp4e.html

Guido, a Dutch guy, had the confidence to apply to US technologists to help Python
break into Windows as open source software that was both friendly and interactive
for its day. 

IDLE (a pun on Eric Idle, one of the Monty Python gang) may seem primitive by
some standards, but many a middle schooler has found it congenial, I can say
from experience as a Saturday Academy mentor (sa:). 

Getting IDLE friendly enough for middle schoolers was what Guido worked on
while DARPA paid the bills.  Python went on to become a hugely successful
language (which DARPA is still funding **).

Speaking of which, here's a complete website I did for a summer school for
mostly middle and high schoolers.  I had a state of the art Mac Lab with big
screens 'n stuff which made it really easy to do hands on.  We also watched
some Youtubes. 

The kids were at different levels of ability but my job was less to assess their
ability than the give them their money's worth.

http://www.4dsolutions.net/satacad/martianmath/toc.html

I've done a lot of other math courses with this language as well.  I recommend

Digital Mathematics and Programming in Python as a resource, in part because

it shares my approach of making understanding RSA, the public key encryption
algorithm, one of its goals.  That's high enough math for any high schooler and
isn't just the usual delta-calculus (more IT flavored i.e. lambda-calc-like).

Kirby

** http://www.computerworld.com/article/2494665/business-intelligence/python-gets-a-big-data-boost-from-darpa.html

[Peter Farrell]

Hi, Kirby,

Always nice to get suggestions from you. Who wrote "Digital Mathematics and Programming in Python"? Did you mean Litvin's "Mathematics for the Digital Age and Programming in Python"?

I agree with you and Roberto that students should be using computers for better math exploring, the earlier the better. I read that in Vietnam even as early as 4th grade kids are introduced to Logo programming. Closer to (my) home, "Mrs. V" teaches programming to 6th graders in Los Altos schools, capitalizing on Processing's strengths in Art and Design. 

I'm currently teaching a small group of middle schoolers Python using the turtle module extensively. There is no programming class put on by their school district! I'd love to teach a "Saturday Academy".

Have a great weekend,

Peter

[kirby urner]

On Sat, Oct 4, 2014 at 11:42 AM, Peter Farrell <peterfa...@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, Kirby,

Always nice to get suggestions from you. Who wrote "Digital Mathematics and Programming in Python"? Did you mean Litvin's "Mathematics for the Digital Age and Programming in Python"?

Yeah, that's the one.  A husband-wife team, the Litvins.  I've met Maria at Pycon in Santa Clara.
 
http://www.skylit.com/mathandpython.html

I also have a website called Digital Math which overlaps in some areas:

http://wikieducator.org/Digital_Math

I agree with you and Roberto that students should be using computers for better math exploring, the earlier the better. I read that in Vietnam even as early as 4th grade kids are introduced to Logo programming. Closer to (my) home, "Mrs. V" teaches programming to 6th graders in Los Altos schools, capitalizing on Processing's strengths in Art and Design. 

I'm currently teaching a small group of middle schoolers Python using the turtle module extensively. There is no programming class put on by their school district! I'd love to teach a "Saturday Academy".

Yes, there's a need for a "Saturday Academy" in any school district where kids want to go more deeply than their standard curriculum allows.  But with a real mentor, not just on their own.  Self study is great, but not the last word in learning.
 

Have a great weekend,

Thank you!  So far, so good.

Kirby