Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

General discussion for topics related to the FreeBASIC project or its community.
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h4tt3n
Posts: 698
Joined: Oct 22, 2005 21:12
Location: Denmark

Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

Post by h4tt3n »

Hello folks,

I have just landed a very exciting job as a math & science teacher in an alternative-type school where teachers are allowed - and even encouraged - to seek new ways of teaching their pupils besides classic "chalkboard lecturing". My first thought was of course: "Hell yeah, I'll FreeBASIC the $%#@ out of this place!".

So, I'd like to know if anyone here have any practical experience with programming as a teaching tool? I have a lot of ideas I'd like to try out but currently very limited experience.

Cheers,
Michael
BasicCoder2
Posts: 3906
Joined: Jan 01, 2009 7:03
Location: Australia

Re: Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

Post by BasicCoder2 »

Sounds like an interesting job.

Hobby electronics and computer programming motivated me to teach myself some math so I think they go well together.

Just a quick google on the topic,
https://www.theedublogger.com/2014/02/0 ... each-math/
Now that I think about it, there are a ton of ways that coding could and should be brought into the math classroom on a daily basis.

For example:

output and printing to screen teaches concepts like Cartesian plotting, graphing functions and conics
using the logic of loops, if, else, etc to teach principals of proofs
number sense – integers, floating/rounding, and how using the wrong data type effects programming
writing simple programs to solve the quadratic formula, the midpoint theorem, and more – automating the wrote memorization processes we’ve been drilling and killing for years



http://researchideas.ca/mc/learning-mat ... gh-coding/
grindstone
Posts: 862
Joined: May 05, 2015 5:35
Location: Germany

Re: Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

Post by grindstone »

I could offer a curve sketching program for the command line and a flow chart editor I wrote some time ago.
badidea
Posts: 2586
Joined: May 24, 2007 22:10
Location: The Netherlands

Re: Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

Post by badidea »

h4tt3n wrote:So, I'd like to know if anyone here have any practical experience with programming as a teaching tool?
No, my thoughts:

If I look at a list of physics topics like on http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class, I see some topics where code could be used to visualise concepts. Mostly mechanics (motion, acceleration, gravity, vectors, mass, forces, etc.). But for other topics (like electricity, light, waves), I don't see how computer code can help to make the topic more clear and fun. Anything can be demonstrated by code of course, but if the code gets too complicated, you will be teaching mostly programming.
Carlos Herrera
Posts: 82
Joined: Nov 28, 2011 13:29
Location: Dictatorship

Re: Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

Post by Carlos Herrera »

h4tt3n wrote: So, I'd like to know if anyone here have any practical experience with programming as a teaching tool?
Yes, I have a lot. Numerical and symbolic calculations help to introduce difficult concepts
fast and on a practical level. But don't start with programing. Use Maxima (with wxMaxima GUI).
It is free and exists on Android. You can teach programming with Maxima (or FB if you wish) later on.
Good luck
dodicat
Posts: 7976
Joined: Jan 10, 2006 20:30
Location: Scotland

Re: Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

Post by dodicat »

I was at sea my working life, but I did have a break in the nineties teaching secondary maths in London.
This was the time when rote learning (Tables) went out of fashion (for a while)
Fancy new ideas (calculators, different ways to do long division, e,t.c. sprang up)

This left thousands of children mathematically illiterate.
Left them terrified of anything numerical.

Teachers were secretly drilling the kids their tables (sometimes only up to X 10)

Basic, Pascal, were designed for teaching.
FreeBASIC would be ideal.
But maths and freebasic should progress together IMHO.

For curve sketching for example, the ability to map from one range to another (co-ordinate geometry) should be more important than the actual freebasic code.
My humble teaching trial:

Code: Select all


function map(a as double,b as double,x as double,c as double,d as double) as double
    dim as double y
    'Required function result is
    'get y so that:
    'as x ranges between a and b then y ranges between c and d
    'This is equivalent to co-ordinate points on a line 
    ' (a,c) --------------(x,y) ------------(b,d) 
    'gradient of a line = difference in y/difference in x ---- (dy/dx)
    'gradients:
    'first part of line  =       whole line  (same gradient of course)
    '(y-c)/(x-a)         =      (d-c)/(b-a)  
 'so (y-c)=(x-a)*(d-c)/(b-a) 
 'and therefore
    y=(x-a)*(d-c)/(b-a)  +  c
    function= y
end function

'test mappings
screen 19
dim as double pi=4*atn(1)
dim as double angle,sinangle
'required to plot
'sin(angle) between -pi and pi

for horiz as long=0 to 800 
    angle=map(0,800,horiz,-pi,pi)
    sinangle=map(-1,1,sin(angle),600,0) 'sine range is --1 to 1
    pset(horiz,sinangle)
    next
    

sleep 
Tourist Trap
Posts: 2958
Joined: Jun 02, 2015 16:24

Re: Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

Post by Tourist Trap »

I would recommend to teach something about the daisyworld:
https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/tea ... unit4.html

It's a perfect topic for a freebasic simulation.
deltarho[1859]
Posts: 4292
Joined: Jan 02, 2017 0:34
Location: UK
Contact:

Re: Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

Post by deltarho[1859] »

Public key cryptography.

I can hear the thuds from here as folk fall of their chairs laughing their heads off.

"I also believe that crypto is perceived as hard because cryptographers haven't done a good job of teaching it." - Jean-Philippe Aumasson, co-author of the Blake SHA-3 finalist.

So, we all find crypto hard then. Catch them young and do a good job of teaching it. The principle of public key cryptography is simple, unlike symmetric key encryption. Youngsters were giving their smart 'phones serious workouts whilst the majority of us were still scratching our heads. Youngsters will love it and have fun sending each other 'secret messages', using small keys. FreeBASIC can be used to develop them and larger keys. There is some maths and probability but it is not 'heavy' or at least it need not be.

"What did you at school today, Jimmy?"
"We just started public key cryptography"
Father hesitates, not knowing what Jimmy is talking about.
"I didn't do that when I was at school"

First job interview.
"Do you know anything about cryptography?"
"Haven't done that much but we did public key cryptography when I was younger"
"You did WHAT?"

Get the picture.

By the time they are ready to go out 'into the world' cryptography will not be the slightest bit intimidating to them and the Internet will be a much safer place than it is today because of that. Some of them may enjoy it enough to go into further study and that will also make the Internet a much safer place than it is now.

There is a lot of material on the World Wide Wait doing a really good job of explaining public key cryptography. Here is just one that I found very quickly: What is the Smallest RSA Private
Key


Stopped laughing yet? <smile>

Added: Most of you will know this but some may not. A lot of crypto material refers to an attacker as 'she' or Eve. It is short for Public key cryptography.

I can hear the thuds from here as folk fall of their chairs laughing their heads off.

"I also believe that crypto is perceived as hard because cryptograhers haven't done a good job of teaching it." - Jean-Philippe Aumasson, co-author of the Blake SHA-3 finalist.

So, we all find crypto hard. Catch them young and do a good job of teaching it. The principle of public key cryptography is simple, unlike symmetric key encryption. Youngters were giving their smart 'phones serious workouts whilst the majority of us were still scratching our heads. Youngsters will love it and have fun sending each other 'secret messages', using small keys. FreeBASIC can be used to develop them and larger keys. There is some maths and probability but it is not 'heavy' or at least it need not be.

"What did you at school today, Jimmy?"
"We just started public key cryptography"
Father hesitates, not knowing what Jimmy is talking about.
"I didn't do that when I was at school"

First job interview.
"Do you know anything about cryptography?"
"Haven't done that much but we did public key cryptography when I was younger"
"You did WHAT?"

Get the picture.

By the time they are ready to go out 'into the world' cryptography will not be the slightest bit intimidating to them and the Internet will be a much safer place than it is today. Some of them may enjoy it enough to go into further study and that will also make the Internet a much safer place than it is now.

There is a lot of material on the World Wide Wait doing a really good job of explaining public key cryptography. Here is just one that I found very quickly: What is the Smallest RSA Private Key

Stopped laughing yet?

Added: Most of you will know this but for those that do not, a lot of crypto text refer to an attacker as 'she' or Eve, as does the above link, and it is short for eavesdropper.
srvaldez
Posts: 3373
Joined: Sep 25, 2005 21:54

Re: Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

Post by srvaldez »

I once subscribed to Quantum Magazine which had a column by Dr. Mu called Cowculations, "the column devoted to problems best solved with a computer algorithm.", the problems were quite amusing, sadly the magazine died in 2001.
you can download the pdf files but they are about 77MB in size, the last column by Dr.Mu was published in Volume 9 No. 6
why do I mention this?
the articles were interesting and humorous and challenging and perhaps you could pose to your students problems of that nature.
h4tt3n
Posts: 698
Joined: Oct 22, 2005 21:12
Location: Denmark

Re: Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

Post by h4tt3n »

badidea wrote:
h4tt3n wrote:So, I'd like to know if anyone here have any practical experience with programming as a teaching tool?
No, my thoughts:

If I look at a list of physics topics like on http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class, I see some topics where code could be used to visualise concepts. Mostly mechanics (motion, acceleration, gravity, vectors, mass, forces, etc.). But for other topics (like electricity, light, waves), I don't see how computer code can help to make the topic more clear and fun. Anything can be demonstrated by code of course, but if the code gets too complicated, you will be teaching mostly programming.
True, but not a problem imho. We have four basic interacting forces in the universe: Weak and strong nuclear forces, which we will only be touching, electromagnetism and gravity. Setting up an electromagnetic experiment is very straight forward, all you need is some copper wire and a few permanent magnets and you're good. No need to use coding here. With gravity it's the opposite. Setting up a gravitational interaction experiment is not possible - apart from letting various objects drop to the ground. Here we can use code to show the pupils that the force that makes thing fall off the table is the same that keeps the planets in place around the sun. They can experiment by creating their own solar systems, and destroy them again. Here coding is the perfect tool.
h4tt3n
Posts: 698
Joined: Oct 22, 2005 21:12
Location: Denmark

Re: Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

Post by h4tt3n »

Thanks everyone for your replies, you've given me some tracks to follow.
integer
Posts: 408
Joined: Feb 01, 2007 16:54
Location: usa

Re: Using FreeBASIC in the classroom?

Post by integer »

deltarho[1859] wrote:Public key cryptography.
...
There is a lot of material on the World Wide Wait doing a really good job of explaining public key cryptography.
Here is just one that I found very quickly:
What is the Smallest RSA Private
Key
@deltarho
Thank you.
The smallest key was something that occasionally flashed across my thought screen.
Now I know.
srvaldez wrote: I once subscribed to Quantum Magazine which had a column by Dr. Mu called Cowculations, "the column devoted to problems best solved with a computer algorithm.", the problems were quite amusing, sadly the magazine died in 2001.
I downloaded several issues.
Verrrrry interesting.
Thank you.

Both good.
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