EDU-SIG: Python in Education

At the last Python Conference, nearly 40 people joined an after hours discussion group on the use of Python in education. We learned a lot - for example, that there are many different ways to teach programming, and that different age groups require different approaches. This SIG was created in direct response to the desire to continue the discussion on-line.

There is no fixed charter for the SIG. We'd like to see discussion of Computer Programming for Everybody (CP4E), but also of other issues related to Python in education. We'd like to include all levels of education (from grade school to college level as well as adult education), as long as people are interested in learning or teaching Python.

Note that discussion of features for IDLE is typically best done in the IDLE-dev mailing list (see the IDLE home page).

Resources

Background materials:

• Computer Programming for Everybody
  The proposal to DARPA. This is where it all started. By Guido van Rossum. (See below for more on CP4E.)
• Using Python in a High School Computer Science Program
  Experiences with Python in the classroom, reported at the 8th International Python Conference. By Jeff Elkner. (See also an interview with Jeff by Frank Willison for O'Reilly.)
• TeachScheme!
  A similar project using Scheme instead of Python; they have 5 years of experience doing similar things.

Various existing programming tutorials for non-programmers using Python, which can be used while the CP4E materials aren't ready yet:

• Instant Hacking
  Learn how to program with Python. By Magnus Lie Hetland.
• A Non-Programmer's Tutorial for Python
  By Josh Cogliati.
• Learning to Program
  An introduction to programming for those who have never programmed before. It introduces several programming languages but has a strong emphasis on Python. By Alan Gauld.
• How to Think Like a Computer Scientist, Python Version
  A translation to Python of Allen Downey's open source text book by the same title. By Jeff Elkner.
• Sample math lessons
  Kirby Urner uses Python to teach various math concepts in the Oregon Curriculum Network.
• LiveWires
  A set of Python lessons used during a 1999 children's summer camp in Britain by Richard Crook, Gareth McCaughan, Mark White, and Rhodri James. (Web hosting by Jeff Elkner.)

More about Computer Programming for Everybody:

• CP4E home page
  Specifics about the project.
• Computer Programming for Everybody
  Presentation summarizing CP4E highlights. By Guido van Rossum.
• An Interview with Guido van Rossum
  A conversation with the creator of Python about an effort to teach Python to non-computer science students. By Phil Hugues for Linux Journal.
• Hackers and Trackers: CP4E
  By Stephen Figgins for O'Reilly.

Software:

• IDLE
  An Integrated DeveLopment Environment, for Python in Python; it will be adapted to form the basis for early CP4E courses
• Alice
  A 3d virtual reality system that teaches 19-year olds without prior programming experience to write Python scripts to control interactive 3d experiences.
• CATBox
  The Combinatorial Algorithm Toolbox is a commercial textbook with an algorithm collection to be published by Springer. CATBox uses
• Gato
  The Graph Animation Toolbox, an LGPL-ed graph animation toolbox. Gato is pure Python/Tkinter.
• PyGeo
  Dynamic geometry software in the tradition of Texas Instruments' Cabri Geometry II(TM) and The Geometer's Sketchpad from Key Curriculum Press, but extended to 3D - written in Python using the PyOpenGL and NumPy extensions. By Arthur Siegel.
• PovTalk
  a Natural Language based 3D scene generator. By Stacey Verner.

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