Post ArThVuceEaDAWSGyeW by cainmark@mstdn.social
(DIR) More posts by cainmark@mstdn.social
(DIR) Post #ArTTtxJyIDduOqIfTc by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-02-25T10:44:06Z
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Steiner schools have a few dozen excellent ideas, and a few dozen bad ones and they do not like to be questioned about either.
(DIR) Post #ArTU1YpTElhOkveySu by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-02-25T10:42:23Z
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"Think with your pencil! Make some sketches!"Some of that Steiner school stuff isn't so bad. (Though, at a Steiner schools they'd insist that it was horrible and wrong to have students this young using computers at all.)I also think there are many adults who could benefit from completing a hypocycloid with 63 part symmetry. If the pen skips don't get mad start again. Find a balence between speed and control. Breathe. And make something beautiful, a little rosette of perfection.
(DIR) Post #ArTUCbaxII6SWH8YRU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-02-25T10:48:49Z
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@cachondo Yeah. I'm very wary of the whole "phone bad" ethos. But, they have so little experience creating things outside of a digital context I worry it could limit their imagination. We talked about how our program could do things that the toy could not... but also how the toy had many attachments and variations that allowed us to draw things we hadn't yet modeled. One of the spirographs I have is HUGE they were delighted when it worked in the program too.
(DIR) Post #ArTUCl5Q0OonxMSVfs by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-02-25T10:25:31Z
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My lesson for 5th graders with the spirographs and programming is going really well. Yesterday we lost track of time, I had to shoo them out of the room.But, we were having so much fun making the patterns and trying to get the program to match them exactly. And I think they were doing the kind of "math play" I've been trying to encourage. 1/
(DIR) Post #ArTUClZuB3ClTuirC4 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-02-25T10:29:48Z
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The program requires several variables:1. radius of outer circle2. radius of inner circle3. number of cycles (they can calculate this by reducing the fraction, so it's not really a "new" variable)4. Distance of pen from edge of the small circle#4 doesn't change the symmetry of the design, but it can make the shape vary wildly. And the way it does this changes depending on the ration of the outer circle to the inner circle. They wanted to get to the bottom of it! I didn't expect that. 2/
(DIR) Post #ArTUCmDbnQxpT3IZ4y by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-02-25T10:32:55Z
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In fact, for all the time I've spent playing with these curves myself I've never thought much about the pen placement much since I kind of wrote it off as "cosmetic" ... the way the symmetry changes was always my focus. But, can you predict if you will get a "loop" just from the ratio of the radii and the pen placement? It's not easy or obvious at all. Today I'll work with the other section with the same lesson. Should be fun. 3/3
(DIR) Post #ArTUCn1Eouf9wyWCR6 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-02-25T10:37:46Z
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What I hope to do with the class generally is help them make connections between coding and abstract models and *real things* that means things you can touch and feel.Our students need to do more things like using a *physical* spirograph. It's a kind of meditative toy, requires motor control and a kind of focus they don't have much practice with. You'd think kids would just want to play with the toy and not do the math and code. THAT is not my problem. I have to push them to use the toy!
(DIR) Post #ArTUEnH8pz3xKCueRM by bituur_esztreym@pouet.chapril.org
2025-02-25T10:46:23Z
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@futurebird they do not like to be questioned about their links to anthroposophy neither..
(DIR) Post #ArTUEo6XksBBtcxhYm by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-02-25T10:49:28Z
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@bituur_esztreym That is why I go in and burgle the good stuff and leave.
(DIR) Post #ArTUiBS81gS4hu49WS by pierrotechnique@sonomu.club
2025-02-25T10:54:46Z
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@futurebird i think most steiner schools (at least the ones i know) are ok with 5th graders using computers by now (it only took them 20-odd years, as always)
(DIR) Post #ArTV7BPbTVRduAc4oa by limpr@ruhr.social
2025-02-25T10:59:16Z
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@futurebird The problem is that they are very proud of their good ideas and their bad ideas and don't care much about the outcomes.
(DIR) Post #ArTY8dtZMN0IOe173o by doctormo@floss.social
2025-02-25T11:33:08Z
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@futurebird We have a fun Spirograph extension in Inkscape, written in python.Can be really pretty. I should test the output with the shape builder....
(DIR) Post #ArTZrT5GVEd7qpQTIG by sewblue@sfba.social
2025-02-25T11:52:30Z
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@futurebird Oh interesting. On the west coast we call those Waldorf schools. Had to Google steiner.With my dyslexic kid the idea of Waldorf schools terrify me. She'd never learn to read left to her own devices, because of the sheer amount of work and insane level of drilling she needs.They'd never accept her anyway, as their success depends on filtering out disabilities. She got rejected at age 6 from a Montessori elementary school for it, and kicked out of a local Catholic school.Any method that teaches without filtering knowledge through reading and writing am game for. I may talk to her teacher about spirographs if it will help her intuit fractions. She goes to a school for learning disabilities.
(DIR) Post #ArTbxyfACnsNRBRt3o by futurebird@sauropods.win
2025-02-25T12:16:03Z
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@sewblue I think the toy can be great for motor skills. There are some ratios involved in understanding how it works— but I don’t know if I’d say it teaches about fractions directly. Also, thank you for sharing what sounds like a series of really frustrating experiences getting the best for your kid!
(DIR) Post #ArTcDl20efGFnFewS0 by AndyDeardentsa@earthstream.social
2025-02-25T12:18:56Z
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@futurebird just in case - check-out cs4fn.org for more ideas - and share this one which is way cool!
(DIR) Post #ArTcJCvINiixkJ7Lua by AndyDeardentsa@earthstream.social
2025-02-25T12:19:55Z
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@futurebird conversations with materials!
(DIR) Post #ArTdfL36wwERH0tFFw by epicdemiologist@wandering.shop
2025-02-25T12:34:57Z
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@futurebird Hyperbolic crochet!!! https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-mathematical-yarn-how-to-stitch-a-hyperbolic-pseudosphere/
(DIR) Post #ArTdgcj0iVgiNq6K24 by sewblue@sfba.social
2025-02-25T12:35:16Z
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@futurebird Some kids (like mine) really really need a tactile sense of a concept to understand it. Even if it isn't isn't direct instruction that intuitive number sense is a powerful link to math concepts. At 14 she is finally reading basic stuff with a level of fluency. Math is still a struggle, because it is still bogged down in rules and not life concepts. I'm mildly dyslexic, and didn't thrive in math until it could be reflect life. Arithmetic is awful, calculus is fun. I'm an engineer now. Underanding that ratio and being able to back out the math relationships is absolutely core to being able to use math in the real world.
(DIR) Post #ArThVuceEaDAWSGyeW by cainmark@mstdn.social
2025-02-25T13:18:14Z
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@futurebird I wish I'd had a teacher like you. The abstract stuff was always beyond my reach unless I had real world examples. The word problems were sometimes do-able for me because of that.
(DIR) Post #ArTkk1gt3CcmMSg3Hc by SKleefeld@mastodon.social
2025-02-25T13:54:03Z
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@futurebird Years ago, I worked at Kenner and did some of the packaging design for the Sparkle Spirograph. I had to create my own designs on the computer because the actual spirograph art with the glitter didn't reproduce well enough. What I found interesting is that they had their engineers reverse calculate my design to ensure that it could indeed be created using an actual Spirograph. (I did have to change my design slightly; I think I mis-measured the inner diameter & had one loop too many?)
(DIR) Post #ArToQGQAyOXA4Wh1O4 by Npars01@mstdn.social
2025-02-25T14:35:39Z
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@futurebird @cachondo Legos & spirographs -- the best toys!https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SpirographAfter cycloids, kaleidoscope math is wonderful too.https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycloidhttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaleidoscope
(DIR) Post #ArTpEjioJBdXQQTaLY by bathtub_jen@shakedown.social
2025-02-25T14:44:46Z
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@futurebird thank you for putting this kind of learning in front of your students! This sounds so fun and engaging. You remind me of the best teachers I had in school, honestly. Teaching them to enjoy learning is incredibly impactful. This is important work. Thank you.
(DIR) Post #ArUR0vrKBLFlGxIreS by KatS@chaosfem.tw
2025-02-25T21:48:02Z
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@futurebird This entire thread exemplifies what I love about my corner of the Fediverse.