My lesson for 5th graders with the spirographs and programming is going really well.
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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/
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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/
The program requires several variables:
1. radius of outer circle
2. radius of inner circle
3. 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/
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The program requires several variables:
1. radius of outer circle
2. radius of inner circle
3. 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/
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
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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
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!
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F myrmepropagandist shared this topic
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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!
-
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!
"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.
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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.
Steiner schools have a few dozen excellent ideas, and a few dozen bad ones and they do not like to be questioned about either.
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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.
@futurebird
they do not like to be questioned about their links to anthroposophy neither.. -
@futurebird touchscreen amplification strikes again?
Growing up I had to put things in things for them to work. Attach a keyboard. Load a disk. Fiddle with the damned volume knob of the tape deck.
now, we sit and tap glass slabs.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.
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@futurebird
they do not like to be questioned about their links to anthroposophy neither..That is why I go in and burgle the good stuff and leave.
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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.
@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.
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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.
@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!
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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/
@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?)
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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.
Legos & spirographs -- the best toys!
After cycloids, kaleidoscope math is wonderful too.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/CycloidThe history of typographic ornament fonts and spirographs as early anti-counterfeiting efforts on documents like bonds & currency. Fun!
