[OLPC library] Math curriculum for the XO

[Edward Cherlin]

On Jan 30, 2008 9:22 AM, Susan Addington <saddingt at csusb.edu> wrote:
> I am interested in math curriculum for the XO. I asked a year or so ago, and
> got no response, but it seems that things are picking up.

Definitely.

> I'm writing a textbook for elementary _teachers_ (hoping to publish this
> commercially). Along the way, I learned a lot about cognition and curriculum
> for children.

I'll want to see that.

> So far the math tools and lessons for the XO seem to be some isolated cool
> activities. I'm not entirely surprised that education ministers in the
> targeted countries were hesitant to join the project---there is no
> curriculum that can be handed to teachers and students. I learned from my
> experience writing isolated fun lessons in the 1990s that most teachers need
> training and structure to learn something as new as teaching with
> technology.

One of the major lessons of the New Math disaster.

> Someone asked about MATLAB for the XO. This seems to be way too advanced.
> The XO needs a better calculator,

I'm for RPN. What are you looking for?

> a spreadsheet program (apparently one is
> in the works), maybe a baby computer algebra system with a very friendly
> front end. There is some older, but very well thought-out, software called
> Function Probe designed by the math education researcher in the 1990s. It
> does algebra, tables, and graphs in a unified way. She told me that she was
> going to put it out free, in java. Maybe someone could do an XO version.

Good. Can you give us a link to a Function Probe Web page?

> Please feel free to contact me publicly or privately if you're interested in
> developing some math curriculum.

I control some textbook copyrights and software licenses on APL, which
I have discussed on the Executable Math page on the Wiki. I listed
math packages on the Linux_education_packages page.

The most important topic in math education is whether we will teach
what mathematicians do: explore and discover. And what mathematics is:
not just calculation, but the rigorous exploration of patterns of any
kind.

> Susan Addington
>
> saddingt at csusb.edu
>
> Math Department, California State University, San Bernardino

-- 
Edward Cherlin
End Poverty at a Profit by teaching children business
http://www.EarthTreasury.org/
"The best way to predict the future is to invent it."--Alan Kay