Dear Sir,

Thank you for your suggestions!

I'll let you know if I need any help and I'll surely post anything I create.

Best regards,

Anmol

Dear Sir,

The tutorial notebook is fantastic! I would have really liked to use this notebook for learning Mathematica, and will endeavor to create something similar myself in an appropriate project!

I'd love to pass this notebook on to some of my friends who have Raspberry Pis and would like to learn the Wolfram Language!

Best regards,

Anmol

Hi Aeyoss, I'm so happy you like it! You made me chuckle, it's totally true that the content I put in this tutorial doesn't include anything specific about the Raspberry Pi. This was for a class on the absolute basics of programming. I did put some effort into making sure it would run smoothly with the cpu limitations and building the author mode (top left view menu) to let others create new content.

On that note, if you switch the notebook to author mode, then you can add pictures by pasting them into READ cells. I know some folks have used this method to create step by step guides (with images of the circuits) about wiring up the raspberry pi (with the pi cobbler) to collect sensor data using the gpio pins and DeviceRead. I will actually be using this method to create curriculum for a "maker" seminar this Fall. If you're .interested, I can share an example here when I get a chance to put some materials together (probably late August).

Stay in touch and keep us updated about your efforts!

Interesting about the "cognitive load" re the shift-return execution requirement. No question it's contrarian to everything else the kids know.

I'm reminded of teaching programming using Fortran in a previous life. I wanted to ignore format statements as lacking in any redeeming value; but, of course, this is what the students wanted to know about and rightly so to get their homework done.

I've never resolved how I would teach Fortran differently now. But, per above, I think your initial focus on Notebooks when teaching Mathematica is the right thing, absolutely.

Not for nothing is the first thing in the C programming book the "Hello World" program.

-_Mark

Sorry for the delayed reply Bob. I agree that a tagging system would be a very good next feature so each page or section could be explicitly associated with discrete educational standards. I also agree that having a clearer system for including learning objectives would be a benefit. Right now this information can be placed within the TEACH cells, which are shown in the TEACHER display mode, but not in the STUDENT display mode. There are some explicit and some implicit learning objectives associated with the group activities in the current notebook's TEACH cells, but I agree they should be more explicit since they are very standard components of lesson plans.

Nice work, Kyle. I might suggest that the next step is to integrate Next Generation Science Standards into the notebook, which would help science teachers identify where and how this activity fits into their instructional delivery. Another big burden on instructors is developing concrete learning objectives and assessment tools to measure whether or not the learning objectives are met. Having a "full package" for teachers to use or modify makes adoption much more feasible.

Thanks Sam!

The short answer - I'm not sure how long I have spent on this project thus far, but it is probably around 100 hours.

The long answer - This is a meandering skill-building personal project that is driven by an interest to help kids learn about technology and to help teachers develop cool curriculum. This project began in June when I led a workshop for 5th graders. I put together some code and text in a standard notebook for the first workshop. I guess it took me about 40 hours to put together the content, which included a few rewrites based on feedback from teachers (it could use another edit, review, proofing, and update).

During the workshop, I noticed that kids were struggling with the notebook interface, so I decided to build something that kids could use with less frustration while learning to code. It took me about 20 hours to put together my first attempt at a kid-friendly styled notebook. The styled notebook from that first attempt was completely redesigned after I got some awesome feedback about improving the interface from someone whom I respect greatly. The result of that feedback can be seen in the current version and took about 40 hours to incorporate.