Shared Lessons

Below are a sample of my lessons and presentations that I have either taught to students or presented at conferences/workshops.

1. Introduction to Python programming through the exploration of the Native American Star Quilt*  
This lesson features Native American star quilts traditionally created by Native American women and integrates mathematics, history, cultural art, and an introduction to computer programming in Python.

Slides          Student_handout          Lesson_codes          simplegeometry_library_documentation

2. Exploration of the fractal, the Sierpinski triangle
This lesson features the Sierpinski triangle and provides an introduction to geometric sequences and series. Students explore how the fractal provides a window into the notion of infinity.

Slides          Student_handout

3. Last One Standing
This lesson begins with a puzzle - if four people are sitting on chairs in a line following two rules, how do they get to the winning position for which the last person is standing. Students first act out the puzzle, then analyze the mathematics with help from red/yellow counters. Then they create a recursive program in Java to produce instructions to get to the winning position for any number of people.

Student_handout         Student_template        solution_code

4. Line Design*
This lesson is an inductive approach to exterior angles of regular polygons through line designs using a Python program.

Student_handout

 5. Create music through Coding and Proportional Reasoning 
Students write code in TI BASIC on a TI graphing handheld connected to the TI Innovator Hub to create music! Applying the principles of musical scales discovered by the Pythagoreans, students encode musical notes including rhythm by representing each note with its sound frequency and duration in time. Legos are used as a manipulative to help analyze the rhythm of a song snippet.

Slides       Blog post (including .tns file)        Video_of_Hedwig's Theme

* To view other Python projects, visit my Pythagoras through Python site.

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