Friday, June 10, 2016

Designing in the math classroom (Coding with Arduino)

Coding in the classroom:

After attending a PD session for Science in the US, I have a new passion to learn about arduinos (maybe raspberry pi in the future) as a tool in the classroom. I’ve hear so much about Hour of Code (Code.org) and genius hour (slightly different but the idea still stands that students need time to tinker and process their own projects). In light of this, Senior School Computer Science class held a hackfest with the middle school a few weeks ago which was a great success for all involved. With this movement of MakerSpaces and creative solutions, there is a lot of discussion of bringing coding into the mathematics classroom (or any classroom really). I am still just learning the basics of the coding world but have come across sites such as sparkfun.com and http://playground.arduino.cc/Projects/Ideas which have project ideas and coding help (there are also a plethora of resources online through simple google searches.

In relation to math specifically:
http://makezine.com/2013/08/26/arduino-in-math-class/ is a well known maker magazine which examined the use and potential connections for a microcontroller in the math classroom. The author of this article in particular discusses one example of using code in the math classroom and some of the successes and hiccups within the process. The article posted on https://www.theedublogger.com/2014/02/06/forget-coding-lets-change-up-how-we-teach-math/ by Ronnie Burt also examines the use of technology in the math classroom and how we may want to adjust the way we teach. One of his main points towards the end is that many teachers say there aren’t enough Computer Science teachers in the school but yet we have a lot of math teachers who are looking for new and innovative ways to deliver the curriculum. With some highly specific/geared PD sessions on programming, we could integrate these two disciplines and bring a new perspective to the discipline of mathematics.

Here is an intriguing Youtube video which may spark your interest in getting your math class using the Arduino ONE (aprox. $26 +$10 for supplies) to hear what your function sounds like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCSLD3qD75c. And if interested, here is a course to learn about Raspberry Pi (FREE for a limited time) https://www.udemy.com/hands-on-internet-of-things-raspberry-pi/?couponCode=BESTBLACKHATFORUM.

Thanks for reading,
Chris


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