[plt-scheme] Re: The Philosophy of DrScheme

Hey.
Learning by discovery, or appropriation is one of the major tenets of
constructionism.
I seriously recommend Mindstorms as one revolutionary book (followed
by any other Papert work, like the turtle hurdles videos, his ideas
are mind blowing
in their simplicity and impact).

Hugs

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On Mon, Dec 1, 2008 at 4:26 PM, Greg Woodhouse
<gregory.woodhouse at gmail.com> wrote:
> A minor nit: There is no reason why mathematics cannot be taught as an
> active process of discovery. The problem (well, one problem) is that the
> only way to really learn mathematics is by doing, and that means
> calculating. Still, there is no reason it can't be interesting. I'll give
> you an example: one thing that always intrigued me, even as a child, is that
> there are only 5 regular polyhedra (the tetrahedron, octahedron, cube,
> dodecahedron and icosohedron), but I didn't realize until much later how
> accessible a result it really is. You could almost make it a homework
> exercise! Start with Euler's famous formula V - E + F = 2 (for a topological
> sphere) and then suppose you have refgular polyhedron the faces of which are
> n-gons. It all comes down to counting: If there are m of them, how many
> times will you count each vertex in m times n vertices per face? How many
> times will you count each edge? What happens if you plug these numbers in
> Euler's formula? Even if youer students take euler's formula on faith, the
> result is still impressive.
>
> On Thu, Nov 27, 2008 at 5:52 AM, Eduardo Bellani <ebellani at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Well, I guess great minds think alike :)
>> >From what I'm seeing so far the target population are a bit different,
>> yours being mostly the undergrad students, Papert's being children,
>> but I guess the goal is pretty much the same:
>>
>> "We therefore believe that the study of program design deserves the same
>> central
>> role in general education as mathematics and English. Or, put more
>> succinctly,
>> everyone should learn how to design programs.  On one hand, program design
>> teaches the same analytical skills as mathematics. But, unlike
>> mathematics,
>> working with programs is an active approach to learning." - HtDP
>>
>> "In many schools today, the phrase "computer-aided instruction"
>> means making the computer teach the child. One might say the
>> computer is being used to program the child. In my vision, the
>> child programs the computer and, in doing so, both acquires a
>> sense of mastery over a piece of the most modern and powerful
>> technology and establishes an intimate contact with some of the
>> deepest ideas from science, from mathematics, and from the art of
>> intellectual model building." - Mindstorms, Children, Computers and
>> Powerful Ideas
>>
>> Just by curiosity
>> > I ran into Logo and the book a year after I finished most of HtDP.
>> What book are you talking about?
>>
>> --
>> Eduardo Bellani
>>
>> www.cnxs.com.br
>>
>> "What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow men. That is the entire
>> Law; all the rest is commentary." The Talmud
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>



-- 
Eduardo Bellani

www.cnxs.com.br

"What is hateful to you, do not to your fellow men. That is the entire
Law; all the rest is commentary." The Talmud