The green arrow points to the exploding star. (Image via LBL).
During the next week or so, you should be able to see this supernova in the Pinwheel Galaxy with a good pair of binoculars, or a small telescope, as it waxes to its maximum brightness on September 9th.
The supernova was discovered just hours after the explosion. Astronomers are pointing every telescope they can manage at it, so this is going to be very well studied over the next decade, something high-schoolers interested in astronomy might consider.
It’s worth reiterating that since the supernova is occurring 21 million light years away, this star exploded 21 million years ago.
The video below explains where to look to find it in the night sky.
Computer programming is the place where algebra comes to life. Students seem to get really excited when they write even the simplest instructions and see the output on the screen. I’m not sure exactly why this is the case, but I suspect it has something to do with being able to see the transition from abstract programming instructions to “concrete” results.
So I’ve decided to supplement my Algebra classes with an introduction to programming. I’m using the Python programming language, or, more specifically, the VPython variant of the language.
Why VPython? Because it’s free, it’s an easy-to-use high-level language, and it’s designed for 3d output, which seems to be somewhat popular these days. The oohs and aahs of seeing the computer print the result of a+b turn into wows when they create their first box. I’ve used the language quite a bit myself, and there are a lot of other interesting applications available if you search the web.
VPython was created to help with undergraduate physics classes, but since it was made to be usable by non-science majors, it’s really easy for middle and high school students to pick up. In fact, NCSU also has a distance education course for high school physics teachers. They also have some instructional videos available on YouTube that provide a basic introduction.
Image from a game created by middle school student Ryan W.
I use VPython models for demonstrations in my science classes, I’ve had middle school students use it for science projects, and I’ve just started my middle school algebra/pre-algebra students learning it as a programming language and they’re doing very well so far.
What I hope to document here is the series of lessons I’m putting together to tie, primarily, into my middle school algebra class, but should be useful as a general introduction to programming using VPython.
Getting VPython
You’ll need to install Python and VPython on your system. They can be directly downloaded from the VPython website’s download page for Windows, Macintosh or LINUX.
Running a Python program.
Once they’re installed, you’ll have the IDLE (or VIDLE) program somewhere on your system; a short-cut is usually put on the desktop of your Windows system. Run (double-click) this program and the VPython programming editor will pop up any you’re ready to go. You can test it by typing in something simple like:
a = 1
b = 2
c = a + b
print c
Then you run the program by going through the Run–>Run Module in the menu bar.
Which should cause a new window to pop up with:
Python 2.7.1 (r271:86882M, Nov 30 2010, 09:39:13)
[GCC 4.0.1 (Apple Inc. build 5494)] on darwin
Type "copyright", "credits" or "license()" for more information.
>>> ================================ RESTART ================================
>>>
3
>>>
Even better might be to test the 3d rendering, which you can do with the following program:
from visual import *
box()
which creates the following exciting image:
A box created with VPython. It looks much more interesting if you rotate it to see it in perspective.
To rotate the view, hold down and drag the right mouse button. To zoom in or out, hold down the right and left buttons together and drag in and out.
Nine year old Daisy Mora takes the zipline to school every day. Her five year old brother is in the bag. Image by Christoph Otto via the Daily Mail.
Photographer Christoph Otto has a few utterly amazing photographs of the kids of Rio Negro in Columbia, who have to take a zipline to get across the valley to school.
A colleague recommended the Cool Math website as something she uses as a supplement for her students. There are some games for the younger kids, and lessons in pre-algebra through algebra for secondary students. I’ve glanced through a few of the pre-algebra lessons, and like them. They’re short, fairly clearly written, and have good diagrams.
The site is also friendly to homeschoolers and their parents, with a decent teacher’s area that outlines the author’s perspective on teaching math.
Their Survivor Algebra is an interesting approach to encouraging peer teaching by breaking the class into “tribes” and giving bonus points on tests if all members of the tribe do well. I’m not sure I like the extrinsic motivation of the prizes and test score bonuses but I think there might be some good aspects of this type of classroom organization in very large classes.
It’s a very interesting site that’s worth investigating.
Talk about evoking conflicting emotions. The image is astoundingly beautiful – I particularly like the rich, intense colors – but the subject, global warming, always leaves me with sense of apprehension since it seems so unlikely that enough will be done to ameliorate it.
The source of the image, Global Warming Art has a number of excellent images, diagrams and figures. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also has lots of beautiful, weather-related diagrams. I particularly like the seasonal temperature change animation I made from their data.
