Slashdot Mirror
For Education, Why TI-83 > iPad
theodp writes "Writing in The Atlantic, Phil Nichols makes a convincing case for why educational technologies should be more like graphing calculators and less like iPads. Just messing around with TI-BASIC on a TI-83 Plus, Nichols recalls, 'helped me cultivate many of the overt and discrete habits of mind necessary for autonomous, self-directed learning.' So, with all those fancy iPads at their schools, today's kids must really be programming up a storm, right? Wrong. Nichols, who's currently pursuing a PhD in education, laments, 'The iPad is among the recent panaceas being peddled to schools, but like those that came before, its ostensibly subversive shell houses a fairly conventional approach to learning. Where Texas Instruments graphing calculators include a programming framework accessible even to amateurs, writing code for an iPad is restricted to those who purchase an Apple developer account, create programs that align with Apple standards, and submit their finished products for Apple's approval prior to distribution.'"
Quite interesting
Crivens! I kicked meself in me own heid!
If TI-83's were made by Apple, you could calculate any number except 5318008.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
Why not write a TI-83 simulator for iOS/Android/W8?
A tablet is only the medium, the software it runs are the tools.
Give them something that will actually be useful in the real world--a netbook with octave. It's certainly a heck of alot easier to learn then TI Basic for doing anything useful.
Also you could give the python with numpy if they need a programming language that extends beyond math.
Hell, even give them mathematica (Although it wouldn't be free like octave or python..)
The average student would never program their calculator.
HP 48 were better.
24KB of available RAM memory.
Wait a minute, Doc. Ah... Are you telling me that you built a time machine... out of a TI?
I learned to program on a TI-59 in the late 70s. After that, learning machine code and assembly programming was easy.
Now I'm teaching maths at university. My students can use any calculator (easy test: if it has a "LOG" or "LN" button, then it will have everything else we need also), but I advise to use the TI-83/84 because it is also used in other classes. In class they can also use their tablet or smartphone.
Tablets and phones are not acceptable during tests or exams, because of the communication capabilities. Then it is calculator only.
Why bother trying to type up some hodgepodge calculator games when you can download Angry Birds for 99 cents?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Android development is accessible to anyone with a computer. Its tools are free as well.
I understand this works on iPads:
Apple ][ emulator
"National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
You wouldn't want just any Jerome Doe being able to write prescriptions for norepinherine would you? At the very least you would want prescribers to be proven knowledgeable the hemodynamic effects of the medications they are ordering to be put into your body, right? That is the very reaon licensing of professionals exist! Why shouldn't the same stipulations be put upon those who prescribe solutions for your computing devices given that those devices are increasingly required just to survive in todays society?
Time is what keeps everything from happening all at once.
You can't make a BASIC interpreter App and get it listed on the Apple store, for folks to download.
Any app that provides programmability is not allowed.... therefore; the TI-series calculators or Android devices will Always provide a better experience for tinkerers, and be the way to go if you want to learn about technology ---- until (or unless) Apple changes their ways, the iOS platform they have provided is essentially a black box: you are not meant to understand it, not meant to program it -- just to consume content on it.
It's not really a learning tool; although there is educational and informational content that can be consumed on the device to learn things.
Of course... Android is a better learning tool, and an iOS device such as a iPhone or iPad should not be the first one you get or your first choice: if you might be an engineering type and want to learn about, tinker with the technology, or see how it works.
If TI went to Apple and said, "let us integrate our graphing software with your iOS devices, like maps, etc.—$1 licensing per iPad," Apple would.
The ipad is not meant to be that kind of device. It replaces lugging around heavy text books. It mostly replaces lugging around a laptop. It's a conduit for researching on the web. But it's not a device particularly for hacking, computer programming and so forth. Would it be nice to have a device good at both? Sure, but it doesn't mean the ipad isn't great at what it is. Not everyone wants to be a programmer.
Stupid article - fits in the hate Apple category. iPad was never sold to educational facilities to teach programming - so pointing out that it will not facilitate that is stupid.
"The iPad is among the recent panaceas being peddled to schools..."
Now get the new and improved panacea that I personally endorse. That other panacea is crap.
Some people can't seem to understand that. There are lots of possible career fields outside of computers and since the iPad is more than a calculator it's awesome for people to discover how things work and what else is out there in the world
If only there was an open source system, with freely downloadable resources, and could run a standard simple programming language like Python.
Oh wait, there's this Android thing...
Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
TechBASIC ( www.byteworks.us ) is an amazing BASIC programming environment for the iPad that is available on th App Store. It has built in libraries for things like graphics and interfacing with Bluetooth devices. It is an ideal educational environment.
This is highly misleading, bordering on bullshit. Too many ANDs in that statement, and the second two clauses are really two aspects of one clause that the author is breaking out to rhetorically exaggerate the difficulty. You can develop for iOS without getting your stuff featured on the App Store, and you can develop for the iOS Simulator without enrolling in the paid developer program.
Still halfway to reading the article, but I did a quick browser search. There are several instances of "ipad" in the article but no mention of the terms "Android" or even just "tablet". Why does Apple have such a lock on the educational system that it's effectively created a duopoly with Microsoft? Macs and now iPads for the rich or talented kids, Windows PCs for everybody else.
Sounds like someone needs to take a look at Pythonista - a full featured development environment, including code editor with syntax highlighting and code completion, interactive prompt, support for graphics and a touch interface, with full featured libraries including math and text processing; runs on iOS (iPhone and iPad) you can even export the app you've developed and have running on your iPad to Xcode so that you can build it for submission to Apple's App Store.
It's a staple on my iPad and has been for a year or so.
Sounds like a bit more useful than a graphing calculator.
rob.
When I need to do some quick graphing or output verification, the calculator is more familiar than loading octave and trying to recall the language and how to display a graph.
That's mainly because I used this single calculator throughout middleschool, highschool, and college, whereas I had never been exposed to any of the differing math packages before college.
Using it for a complicated or computationally-intensive program is just silly, however. Computing splines of just ten points takes it around 30 seconds, and uncommented labels and gotos very quickly become a maze.
I do think that the article has a good point in that students find a lot of good reasons to learn to program their calculators, from showing off to friends, to modifying games, to automating boring math problems. If those are all obviated by packaged apps, and programming has a high barrier to entry, I think fewer will explore the capabilities of their machines.
I've been using unix exactly as long as I've been using OSX. When I want it to do something, I read man pages, google, and often add something to my bashrc or vimrc.
My OSX environment consists of some pretty icons in the dock. I guess I haven't really ever tried to make it do anything new. What would I want it to do and why?
First, I don't believe the iPad is a panacea of education. I see it as another tool, not one to replace them all. Second, the only part of the summary with regard to programming for the iPad (or any iOS device) that's valid is the "prior to distribution" part. You can develop and deploy apps locally without being a registered developer and without Apple oversight. The only time you hit that obstacle is when you go to distribute the app, and guess what? Apple has a program for universities at least so student developers can publish through their school's dev license. Sure, still has to pass muster, but that's just another boundary condition and learning moment. Certainly no real roadblocks to learning how to develop apps in objective-c in the classroom. What a bunch of FUD!
My kids have MacBook Air and iPads. The MBA has a nice setting to limit the time spent on the device - both in duration and hours of the day. This is nice because we can reach a consensus and keep enough time for offline play and lessons. But the iPad (and iPhones) have no such limit. It's frustrating to police the iPads "by hand" and they are a powerful temptation for the kids. No book reading or homework gets done when iPads are available. This is a weak spot IMO.
along with pen and paper.. that's all we had.. tfa author had to buy one for 8th grade algebra? what the flyin fuck? you don't even need a calculator for algebra. i didn't get a scientific calculator (pretty basic one) til trig & geometry (took concurrently, after 2 years of algebra)
Stupid Anonymous Coward - fits in the Apple Fanboy category. Users naturally see the iPad as a computer - that's what it is, right? And it's assumed that a computer can do everything than a calculator can, making the calculator obsolete. The Fine Article points out that this is not the case, and that teachers, parents and students should think about this when deciding what to promote in the classroom.
Fact is that the iPad is a gimped consumer toy compared to a computer or calculator, great for glossy illustrations in elementary school, but when it's time to do some heavy lifting, it falls short.
c++;
That's yet another person with sour grapes about the future. "When I was a boy, I had to walk 2 miles to get to my school", well now I don't walk 3,5 kilometres.
Not all the people in the world want to learn programming. When they do, they will do it at home usually on their computer. Have you ever tried writing a piece of software with a flimsy tablet's virtual keyboard? I'm a programmer, and just writing a dozen pages of design text (let alone code) will cost me 4x the time it would take on a real keyboard (and don't give me that crap about keeping your physical keyboard with you - just go buy a laptop, seriously!). About as bad as my experiences with the TI devices ;)
The graphing calculator was meant to help you graph things mathematically. Not code.
The iPad is meant to be an all-rounder "good enough for most people" kind of device. Not meant to develop for it, especially not on it.
You had to code on your TI because you didn't had the money to have something better to code upon. And it was kind of cool to code on it, as you lugged it all around. :)
You can still code for your iPad, except you'd need to code on a computer, and then transfer it to your iPad. And seriously, $100 to code per year is about the price of cup of joe per week. PER WEEK. If you have a passion, just go ahead, bite the bullet and freaking code! It's 3 times cheaper than your cheapest iPad! And it will work on all the other fruity devices.
And here, I'm not even talking about the free (as in beer) Android development! Harder to setup, less intuitive, but there's FAQs and frag, again, if you want to code, JUST FREAKING DO IT!
Then, there's the pedagogical part. Other people RIGHTFULLY noticed they can use this for text books. But they also can use it in most courses. Your TI will mostly be used in math-oriented courses, and even there, only up to the first or second university year. After that, you need much more complex devices, as, I don't know if you have noticed, the schools are slowly improving and touching even more complex grounds. Graphing will get you up to a certain level, but not really that far. At one point, you need better tools.
Finally, the learning by itself part. Not everyone is good at that. I don't want to impede on people's creativity, but these ones will certainly learn how to channel their creativity in whatever tool they can find, including programming if they feel ever so inclined. (Again pointed out) there ARE development tools for iPad. You CAN learn to code on iPad. It's just not the best. Besides, I had to purchase my TI graphing calculator (thrice, as it broke down). I had to purchase my personal computer. Now people are being GIVEN iPads and tablets. How can you hinder creativity by giving something at one point (yes I can see many ways, but is this really a good point?)
That kind of old coot (probably my age) just gets on my nerves at some point. Geez. Learn to live in your damn millennia!
> writing code for an iPad is restricted to those who purchase an Apple developer account...
I've never once paid anything to be a member of Apple's developer minions. You can download Xcode without being registered as a developer. (Let's check.... Open AppStore, not signed in, search, yes, there it is. Although it shows as already installed. Shared screen on another Mac, search, yes, there it is, free.)
The only porn I can view on a calculator is BOOBS.
The iPad is very clearly the wrong hardware for the purpose. These days we have much better hardware for the purpose in terms of both suitability and cost than any graphics calculator including Arduino, Raspberry Pi and BeagleBoard and the like. The list is endless and great.
Another "journalist" who can't be arsed to do a trivial google search to check the facts behind the thesis of his article. You can program in python, ruby, octave, or several other languages on an iPad. Even one of several variants of basic, if you want. If you really love the TI-83 you can even emulate that.
Plus read textbooks, scientific papers, manuals, etc.
Kudos to the slashdot editors and the submitter for their incredulity as well.
Kind of funny, in 1999 my "programming class" in high school used apple IIe's.
I do remember using Ti-8X calculators in science classes, they had add-ons that could plot temperature etc.
I have never used an ipad, or any tablet for educational purposes, I imagine these are not being used for app programming classes.
Not everyone is looking to program on everything, if you are using a PC to search the web and type up papers, it doesn't mean you need to know how to design web pages and write windows programs.
I would have to look more into these schools issuing ipads to every student, it kind of seems like one of those "technology will make everything better, let's force every teacher and student to use it" even if it has no real benefit.
...The best calculator for education (IMO) is none at all. I'm not writing this as a luddite (or not entirely): I own an HP48G+ and a TI-89, and I'll admit that they are a useful means to take the gruntwork out of a lot of calculations (especially the TI-89 with its capacity for symbolic differentiation and integration).
My contention is that any calculator often tends to become a crutch that actually gets in the way of learning, in the sense that it effectively encourages the student to spit out the "answer", when the point is to understand how it is obtained.
When I studied first-year maths at Uni, most of my fellow-students never even got to grips with the fundamental theorem of calculus, which of course means that for the entirety of the course, they were parroting little mini-formulae without really understanding how it fitted together. And using any calculator to find points of inflexion on a curve is just a big time-waster when you can scribble them with a pencil much faster than you can punch the keys.
Getting back to my earlier remarks about gruntwork, though, my best choice for this - if only it existed- would be a TI-89 that does RPN (with the nice clicky keys and the big "Enter" button exactly under the index finger). Fat chance...
How about this; if the TI-83 were good for promoting computer literacy and programming-as-a-user mentality among the general masses, the iPad wouldn't exist.
You can indeed run interpreted stuff on iOS. You just can't downloadand run interpreted code.
Which means any emulator would fail because it would lack support for the calculator's serial port.
and my TI-89 still works. Doubt that ipad will work for that long. appl€ will have stopped selling the batteries long before then.
Where is the updated version of the information that doesn't require first paying $99 for the first year? About six months ago, I was considering developing applications for iPad, and I was considering buying a sufficiently recent Mac on which to run Xcode and an iPad mini on which to test my application. Before committing to the hardware purchase, I wanted to view the App Store Review Guidelines to make sure my application concept would be permitted, but a free Apple developer account wasn't enough to view the Guidelines.
ok, if you limit the scope of what you are looking at strictly to educational software, then MAYBE a case could be made, but I'd say this is just another example of "back in my day" syndrome...
sit a kid in front of an iPad, with no instruction whatsoever, and watch the kid learn - and by "kid" I'm happy to include kids as young as 3
About the ONLY advantage to teaching kids to code on a calculator is there are less potential technological distractions.
That and a $120 calculator per child is much less expensive than a $400 laptop per child, even with the economic rent that Texas Instruments collects for being accepted for use with College Board tests, and somewhat more durable.
It worked for me so it's the best....everything else is crap. Just more of the same. We should really be careful with that printing press too. It's going to ruin civilization as people aren't ready to read things for themselves without someone helping them understand it.
Give them a conventional laptop, install Linux and Octave on it, and bam, you've got the most powerful calculator you can get for zero software spending.
But these sorts of common sense approaches don't result in money being spent, so they never seem to come up in educational policy discussions.
Authors premise is flawed.
I agree with author that idevices are too simple and place barriers for casual geeks to tweak.
Apple dev account not required!
Apple guidlines are not required!
SDK is freely available.
Can install on personal or friend devices without dev license.
Only barrier is using a Mac. A $499 new mac mini or used mac is not massively huge.
Dev license is inly requied for mass distribution on their appstore.
Because under the policy of at least one school, any handheld device running iOS or Android would need to be placed in the student's locker no later than the first bell and removed from the locker no earlier than the final bell. Exceptions can be made for students using special education services on the student's Individualized Education Program.
As someone actively involved in education, I am highly opposed to iPads. They are a glorified TV, and little more... Want consumption? Go ahead... Learning is quite poor.
Why not just use a TV with a DVD player to educate - you might as well.
Now laptops are a whole different ball game...
Android development is accessible to anyone with a computer
Is an Android device "a computer" in this sense? Either way, it still doesn't matter because AIDE allows for programming directly on an Android tablet, provided that the Android 4.3 update didn't disable your keyboard. (The workaround works only on rooted devices.) On the other hand, each student would have to carry both an iPad and an Android tablet: an iPad to read the iPad-exclusive textbooks on which the district has standardized and an Android device for programming.
Just a few of weeks ago brushed the thick layer of dust off my TI-82 after having been neglected for decades. The button battery storing program memory was dead and all my programs gone.
Sat down and wrote a small program to ask questions and do imple calculations. It was extremely sad had forgotton how to navigate menus let alone write programs. After a while it was all coming back and I remembered why I had liked my TI-82 back in the day of the 386. It was so limited and slow to execute/code you really had to think to find a way to write anything fun.. it was a challenge.. perhaps this has some value in an educational setting.
Not to say you can't do x,y or z on an iDevice.. but I wouldn't if it were my decision..have a severe dislike for any OS vendor who finds it acceptable to errect walled gardens and grant themselves the title of arbiter of execution. F that.
Anyway back on topic bottom line selection of a platform because it is "easy to use" in an educational setting my not ultimatly be the best decision for students.
I completed engineering school with a slide rule before they invented calculators.
this is actually faster than a calculator and you tend to focus on the method rather than the math.
I don't read your sig. Why are you reading mine?
Quite like game-consoles, in fact. Programming, customization, alternate OSes, all not encouraged. Basically a shiny, expensive tool, that cannot do a lot. A Barbie-doll comes to mind as a comparison. (My kid sister threw hers into the trash after a few days because "you cannot do anything with them"...) It regards its users as infantile, incompetent, and only capable of selecting from a simple list of choices prepared for them.
A programmable calculator, on the other hand, is a professional tool and programming it has been made as easy and as effective as possible. It is not only encouraged, it is its primary reason for existence.
I think the story has it exactly right. To get an idea what programming is all about, and to make mathematics ans parts of other sciences a lot less tedious, a good programmable calculator is the way to go. Once you have understood an equation (for example), program it in and prove to yourself that you have understood it. Then never calculate it by hand again. Demonstrating the power of programming does not get any better than this.
iPads on the other hand are counterproductive and a waste of money. They can only serve to educate a generation that can use technology in specific ways, but have no understanding of technology at all. In other words, iPads in schools foster incompetence.
Most ACs are not even worth the keystrokes to insult them. Be generically insulted by this and ignored otherwise.
There are multiple ways of learning.
One way is through receiving information being presented by somebody else. Books, teachers, and possibly IPads, are good for this.
Another way is by trying things yourself. Legos. A chemistry set. An electronics kit. A computer with an easily accessible programming interface. An iPad is not good at this. It doesn't need anything fancy, IMO - just support an iterative language, procs and funcs, math and strings and arrays and pointers and stuff, basic input from keyboard, maybe mouse and/or touch, and basic output of text and graphics (rects and circles, individual pixels.) Kids could then explore math, logic, control flow, they could create things... There's joy in creation that isn't present in being lectured to. Don't bother with OOP, memory management, windows/views. We want kids to do the programming equivalent of building with Legos, rather than build an actual rocket ship.
Everything Nichols says is true, but you don't have to use the Apple sanctioned development tools nor put your app in the app store if you just want to learn how to program.
Python: 'And then suddenly you have a language which says "we're all stuck with whatever the whiniest coder wants".'
I teach college physics: my students use both iPads and TI calculators. But almost none of them use the programming features on either the calculator or the iPad. It's a rare student who has a creative spirit that's strong enough to bother learning to program on any device, and those that have that drive to make things will find a way to do it on any device they can get their hands on.
And while *you* might have learned to program on a TI, you're a Slashdot reader, you were that rare student. And let's be honest: as a programming interface, the TI is hideously awful.
isn't that called a netbook? ok, i'm showing how young i am. I mean, you can program on a $300 ACER Netbook and do math. lol i even installed MY-SQL and Visual Studio Express. i have open office calc that can create neat charts. plus i can balance my prepaid debit card account with Open Office. some times i don't have internet access so i just type down the numbers in Calc.
Sure, graphing calculators can be programmed. And a lot of us nerds got into programming that way. But that is really besides the point. Do graphing calculators actually help students learn high school level math? Do iPads help them? Those are the questions we should be asking.
Can the TI be a good educational tool to help teach programming concepts? Yep, it sure can be. Better tool than the iPad? Probably, yes.
But that's not really the educational niche for which Apple is pushing the iPad in the classroom. It's basically being sold as an electronic textbook, which isn't necessarily a bad concept. Having one very portable device to haul around instead of four to six heavy books is great. Not having to print a massive number of new textbooks every year? Also nice. Videos and audio embedded in the text? That can be a real asset, and that's not achievable with traditional textbooks. Being able to start at a high level with a complex multicellular organism and drill down to the sub-cellular level? Pretty nifty.
There are also things like real-time quizzes, where a teacher asks a question, the students answer on their tablets, and the teacher gets immediate feedback about both the group as a whole and the individual students.
I'm not saying that tablets are a cure to our educational woes, nor do I think they are a huge educational revolution. But I think they are tools that can be used effectively in an educational setting. Personally, I think part of the problem is that kids spend too much time with their heads in books, e- or otherwise, focusing on theory and not enough time getting their hands dirty applying those theories. The TI calculator is an example of a tool that can help with the latter. But that doesn't negate the value that a properly employed iPad-or-other-tablet can also bring. It just means using different available tools in conjunction with one another.
But then there are graphing calculator apps like... https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/free-graphing-calculator/id378009553?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/graphing-calculator-hd/id374274107?mt=8 and Mathlab's pretty good, https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=us.mathlab.android&hl=en So I guess, iPad and android tablets do more than a graphing calculator. Did Phil Nicols get '''something''' from TI to say that a computer is less educational than a calculator?
Well, I for one believe in the sanctity of e-ink.
I don't believe it's possible to make knowledge cute enough that kids will want to learn.
What is possible is making a device with batteries that last up to 1 month(solar charging?), are perfectly readable under sunlight or a lamp FOR HOURS, and includes a library of nearly 20000 books for the low low price of a 8gb microSD card. The functionalities of TI-83 could, in theory, be added.
So every student would be settled with a library, a calculator, and maybe a chess board. Sure, they won't be entertained, which is truly a shame since they don't get that enough at home, streets, malls, parks, BUT, it will be hard to justify, on a personal level, how they were ever able to manage to finish high school deprived of an education.
Giving kids iPads isn't about iPads - it's about Apple being a gatekeeper for DRM content distribution. Every one of these iPad deals I've seen is really a deal with a textbook publisher for DRM content, and Apple has the best end-to-end lockdown solution. We're training the next generation to consume temporary DRM content on disposable devices, just like in the 1800s we trained kids to be good factory workers with a regimented school day governed by a bell ringing.
Here on /. It seems that it is important that everyone knows how to code.
I don't agree, there are any quite different skills that can complement coding skills.
The ipad may not be a perfect learning device, but that is not necessarily because of programming limitations.
Am I the only one that read that as "TI-99/4A"? Personally, I found this device quite educational... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_Instruments_TI-99/4A
Or, you could get a HP 48GX, the finest calculation device ever invented by mankind.
Slashdotters, take note. You program the thing using a dialect of *Lisp*. Fucking street cred, bro.
A massively powerful programmable computer device is WORSE in and of itself compared to a weak non-(generally)programmable fixed purpose device. Riiiiiigggttt! So how exactly does that work?
The real question is this. In the age of Mathcad, and similar computer assisted maths environments, why is ALL maths teaching (past a certain Grade of course, say from 12-years-old onwards) not taught exploiting such environments. Imagine if Computer Science was taught in the same way as maths commonly is. It would mean CS would constantly focus on the wonders of direct machine code- not even assemblers.
But...BUT... if you research the so-called 'new-maths' teaching movement in the USA (and successful spread to many other nations), you will see an incredible collapse in the maths skills in all but the most able and least able groups of students. An intentional de-skilling of the vast majority of people in the middle is occurring- people assumed to have no great need of any but trivial maths skills in the later life. So-called 'new maths' methods are chosen because they are provably confusing to most people (but people with excellent inherent maths skills find the puzzle-box aspect of new-maths intriguing). Then, because the scores of the best maths students do not decline, but the scores of every one else do, the monsters that rule you call your failing children THICK and LAZY. It is a very clever, very nasty psychological trick.
The "new reading" teaching methods are designed for the same purpose. By teaching children to sound out every word in their head, the adult reading ability is significantly worsened on average. Proper reading NEVER involves vocalising the words, but uses shape recognition, where the eye 'sees' whole paragraphs, sentences, clusters of words, and individual words, essentially seeing dozens to hundreds of words at the same time as the semantic meaning of the writing is woven together in an organic way by the mind.
Children who have fallen prey to the new teaching, and lack the inherent ability to instinctively deploy proper methods read ONE WORD AT A TIME SOUNDING THEM OUT AND INTERNALLY LISTENING TO A VERBAL RECONSTRUCTION.
Most TI-8x graphing calculators have a serial port over which programs can be sent and received. The connector is a 2.5 mm jack, which looks like a headphone jack but narrower. The user connects the devices with the appropriate cable, chooses "receive" on one device, and chooses "send" on the other. One thing that can be sent over such a link cable is user-entered programs. If a calculator emulator emulates the serial port, then it can receive programs not approved by Apple over the emulated serial port and thus violates the policy that you have quoted.
Or do they just mean "screen based computing device with flashy colors/sounds"?
Yes. Any electronic device bigger than a typical wristwatch and not specifically approved for a class or mentioned in a student's IEP was banned as disruptive to the classroom and subject to confiscation. I used iOS and Android devices as familiar examples of devices that clearly fall within the ban. To be more concrete: It was a lot more acceptable to whip out a TI-83 and play Drug Wars after completing one's assignment than it would be to whip out an iPod touch.
TI makes expensive, limited functionality devices.
Apple makes expensive, engineered spy/malware, restricted customisability devices.
Neither are good options for children to learn in. An ideal environment would be cheap, flexible, secure and programmable.
Clearly the answer is open source, the best option being linux.
I agree that having an accessible programming environment available on the iPad is an important feature for education. My background is in theoretical and computational mathematics (PhD candidate), and my early experiences learning to write code and implement algorithms using my C-64 and HP 48g turned out to be excellent preparation for advanced math. If Apple doesn't bundle a scripting language these days (HyperCard?), another alternative is to go to the cloud. There is a project under way to make the Sage math software (based on Python) available as a free web app at cloud.sagemath.org. It's currently under heavy development and it does not yet work well on the iPad, but it is very usable on computers and Android devices. Another similar project is www.wakari.io.
a free Apple developer account wasn't enough to view the Guidelines.
Well, you could sign into apple's developer website with your free account and read the latest ones.
I did that. It didn't work.
Five minutes ago, I visited the Guidelines index, clicked the link "App Store Review Guidelines", was prompted to log in with my Apple ID, and was redirected to the unauthorized page: "Sorry, you cannot access this page."
I did a fair amount of calculator programming back in high school and college; the TI-83+ is indeed a fun device to tinker with.
But it shouldn't be forgotten that in order to write a "Flash application" (necessary if you want your program to be larger than ~24k, or if you want to use many of the advanced features of the OS) your program needs to be digitally signed. Originally this was through the SDK program which cost (IIRC) $99 per three applications.
Although TI did eventually release the private app-signing key for the 83+ and 84+, the corresponding keys for the TI-73, TI-89, TI-92+, and most recently the TI-84+CSE, still have not been released. (Meanwhile, the paid SDK program has been discontinued. The only reason third-party programmers can create apps for these calculators at all is because of a community effort to crack the RSA signing keys, which luckily were only 512 bits.)
Not to mention the Nspire series, which doesn't allow *any* assembly/C programming out of the box (jailbreaks have been found, but TI generally fixes them with every new OS update.)
So: better than an iPad, maybe, but not exactly a paragon of openness.
But it's not a device particularly for hacking, computer programming and so forth.
The iPad is a great device for that espially at the beginning levels. Codea for one thing is a great introduction to what programming can do. But you can also program in a number of other languages right on the iPad itself...
And of course if you get really interested the whole realm of application development is very, very easy to get into with a ton of free material to help you learn.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
TI itself make an iPad version of there color graphing calculator for the iPad.
More at "http://education.ti.com/en/us/nspire-family/ipad"
And a video of it in action "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P1vH8U1U0a4&feature=player_embedded#t=6"
This is a discussion about schools. Not universities. That means no programming, no graphing - those things aren't on the curriculum.
In fact, the TI-83 would be *forbidden* in examinations here, because that programming capability could be used to store notes or formulas for use in cheating. There are strict standards for what is permitted in a calculator in examinations, and any type of storage is off-limits. Programmable calculators are permitted in lessons, but teachers would strongly discourage them on the grounds that students would learn to use a tool they cannot take into exams, and thus be presented with an unfamiliar interface at the time their skills are tested.
Graphing is also not permitted in a calculator. Part of the examinations involves roughly plotting functions by hand - nothing precise, just getting the crossings on the right axis for a quadratic. A graphing calculator would be a powerful way to cheat.
Things might be different in the US though. I work at a UK school, and it's a secondary school* - once you get into higher education you can use whatever calculator you want.
*Well, an Academy. They are all Academies now. The government likes Academies.
So someone thinks old school calca are better because you can program them? Perhaps for a tiny percent, but for most students this is absurd. I have taught math at the collegiate level, and worked in the tutor lab.
What separates the two is the screen, touch, and the keyboard. A tablet has a giant color display, an old calc has a tiny b/w screen. This is very limiting. Most calculator programs require at least a cheat sheet to know in what order to key in complicated data. The huge tablet screen allows an interactive interface that is self explanatory.
While the feel of real keys is nice, they cannot change once you leave the factory. They also require multiple shift keys to get a basic feature set. On screen keyboards can adapt to the use, have multiple separate keyboards, and change with an update next week. If you don't like any of the hundreds out there, write your own app!
If you ever graph complicated 3d functions for calc 3, and spin the full color axis with your finger on a $5 app, you almost cry when having to go back to the TI or HP for the exam.
The only reason old school calculators still exist? it makes it harder to cheat on set exams.
Now get off my lawn!
I still use my TI-83, purchased in 1998 and my TI-89 purchased in 2000. (Just really wanted the CAS) I'm sure many others here have TI calcs older than that. (I still use my Grandfather's slide ruler too. That doesn't even need batteries)
How many Ipads will be running in 15 years?
Do one thing, do it well, and it will last for decades. I use my Grandfather's fountain pen every day (his HS graudation present in the late 20s). Sure, I've had to replace the sac and the j-bar, but it will outlast me. Why waste money purchasing another 5000 bic ballpoints in my life (assuming that half of those will be lost or thrown out), when I have a free pen that does the job better? I just have to keep it clean and every 40 years or so replace the rubber bits.
In order for an educational tool to be really useful, it needs to be in control of the educator.
I thought that was what a $299 per school district per year subscription to iOS Developer Enterprise Program was for.
Steve Jobs said: "I think everybody in this country should learn how to program a computer"
That's what a Mac is for. Mr. Jobs once made an analogy of the difference between an iPad and a Mac to a car and a truck. I guess he would have wanted everybody in whatever country to learn how to program on a Mac at home.
Codea is another product like that, based on lua instead of python.
AccountKiller
On the contrary, the iPad is the worst of all possible options by any reasonable criteria you can imagine.
When I was younger, kids had basic and LOGO...
Now there is nothing like that. Even Javascript is, I think, not a great starter language.
The computer at this point kind of sucks as a launching point learning to program.
Honestly I think it would do kids better to learn to program on an iPad itself. Perhaps Codea is not the perfect expression of that, but it's a much better starting point than most PC options these days.
And as I said, if they wanted to expand to do more complex application development, there are a ton of resources to do so for the iPad - many of which are free, like the Stanford classes.
I don't know if you've ever done any desktop programming but it is WAY more complex than iOS development, for Mac or PC (or Linux for that matter).
So iOS is a better starting point, and a better intermediate step for development - all of this is true REGARDLESS of criteria chosen.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Because it doesn't come with Facebook attached at the hip.
A trip down nostalgia lane is all well and good...
but a little bit of fact checking is always a good idea
before making grand claims...
TI itself offers an iPad programmable calculator app
http://education.ti.com/en/us/products/apps/ti-nspire-app-for-ipad
Several other programmable graphical calculator apps,
including some that resemble/imitate TI and Hp calculators
are available for the iPad.
And several native iPad programming languages/environments
are now available with Apple's (perhaps reluctant) approval,
which allow one to develop and program on the iPad itself,
some of which even support subsequent compilation for
and submission to the app store.
For Lua...
http://twolivesleft.com/Codea/ (based on Lua)
http://www.mobileappsystems.com/software/iluabox
For Python...
http://omz-software.com/pythonista/
http://pythonforios.com/
Etc....
Apple could and should have done better and faster on this front,
and still needs to do a lot more and better,
but the iPad is getting there...
Unfortunately, here in North America we have gotten used to throwing money at problems. We are a society too focused on gear and materialistic things.
Giving iPad to students is not likely to make much of a difference on how much they learn. It is a lot harder to make a difference in this area.
The guy is absolutely right. I wouldn't of had a clue about today's machines if it wasn't for simple methods like BASIC in the 80's on my old trusty C64.
And it actually came with a manual that taught you how to program it. The fact that you no longer get that with PC's is dumbfounding and I can understand this guy's
attitude towards the ipad.
Of course, calculators are technically long obsolete. It is exactly their limitations is the reason why they are still around because they produce controlled limits on what the device could do, for example not access the web. With smartphone or tablet already, there is less control for the teacher. There are now apps like "myscript calculator" where one can handwrite formulas onto the screen and it evaluates it. The article still has a point. With calculators, one could still experiment. I had hacked my TI 59 so that it featured a joy stick and use it to control the lights of my room. Also not well known was that it was possible to reprogram the basic functions on the calculator like allocate the sin button to something else. Presumabely this made it cheaper for TI to sell specialized versions of their calculators but the backdoor key combination to allow such mods had not been documented anywhere. (here are pictures of my highschool machine: http://www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/various/ti59/index.html)
When I was younger, kids had basic and LOGO...
Now there is nothing like that. Even Javascript is, I think, not a great starter language.
We're in complete agreement here. When we were kids, programming was a lot easier to learn.
but it's a much better starting point than most PC options
I strongly disagree. The options are extremely limited, and significantly lacking compared to the options available on an inexpensive pc, to which more students are likely to have ready access.
As an example, I'll offer Microsoft's Small Basic as a decent beginner language. It's not perfect (what is?) but it's a lot better than high-visibility failures like Scratch.
there are a ton of resources to do so for the iPad - many of which are free, like the Stanford classes.
There are better, and more accessible, options for free online. In that specific case, I don't believe that it's exclusive to iTunes or the iPad.
I don't know if you've ever done any desktop programming but it is WAY more complex than iOS development
Quite a bit. Still, I disagree that iOS development is easier. I honestly don't see why you believe it to be significantly easier than writing desktop applications on Windows or Mac?' (Admittedly, I haven't written anything for the Mac in a very long time. Development on Windows hasn't exactly improved over the last decade, but it's certainly not difficult. I'm of the opinion that it's still quite a bit easier than iOS, if for no other reason than the wealth of great tools.) iOS is one of the easier mobile platforms to develop for, but I don't think it's the easiest. (Yes, Android development is horrible, I'm not arguing that!) WP and BB are the clear winners there.
I'd further argue that Objective C and Lua are just as rotten an option for beginners as C#, Java, Python, etc. Whatever the language, the additional barriers imposed by the iPad as compared to other platforms make it a non-starter.
On specific criteria, if this helps you understand my perspective better:
Cost: iPad is more expensive than most options.
Options: The iPad has significantly fewer options for development than other platforms.
Resources: Having fewer options means fewer tutorials and other learning resources.
Hardware: The iPad lacks a physical keyboard. I've poked out code on a touchscreen in an emergency, but it's not an experience I'd like to repeat! Sure, you can buy an expensive BT keyboard, but that adds to the cost.
Required reading for internet skeptics
I started with a TI-57 myself, and yes I learned the basics of programming that way. I read the manual and tried a bunch of things. Admittedly this is dated but...
I remember a lousy keyboard that frequently failed to register a keypress. Or would register a double press. The display was a single line of LEDs which is severely limiting. And there was no way to save your programs, except to write them down. Every time you turned the device off you lost all your careful entry work.
Before too long I abandoned the device and basically never used it's programming functions again. They were limited and hugely impractical.
Quite a bit. Still, I disagree that iOS development is easier. I honestly don't see why you believe it to be significantly easier than writing desktop applications on Windows or Mac?'
I've done some Windows programming in the past. I've also done some Mac programming. Just to get working things on iOS is so, so easy... I wish you could understand what a vast chasm it is between a real newcomer and making any kind of useful desktop application. There's so much more you have to know to get it working...
Cost: iPad is more expensive than most options.
A BRAND NEW iPad Mini is just $329. What kind of computer are you going to get at that price, honestly? The iPad will last for three years or more too, can you say that about a $329 computer?
Having fewer options means fewer tutorials and other learning resources.
At this point I would hazard to guess that iOS development has, by far, the most resources geared to getting the novice up and going, above all other languages and platforms. Seriously, open your eyes on this!
The iPad lacks a physical keyboard.
Which can be had in many forms for less than $30.
Sure, you can buy an expensive BT keyboard
Or a cheap iPad keyboard case for $20... you seriously still do not understand the HUGE advantage the iPad also has in physical accessories?
You are really, really doing beginners a disservice steering them into the rocky shoals of desktop development at this point in time, when there is a practical path before them.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Just to get working things on iOS is so, so easy... I wish you could understand what a vast chasm it is between a real newcomer and making any kind of useful desktop application. There's so much more you have to know to get it working...
I'm not a newcomer, so it is difficult to understand that perspective. I have taught intro courses, so I have a sense of it. As far as how much you need to know to get a desktop app running on Windows vs. iOS, I'd still say you need to know significantly less. iOS development isn't bad at all, but it's certainly not the easiest option out there. (I'm thinking of Objective C and Lua here.)
I have no idea what tools you're making the comparison against, but I recommend dropping them immediately, as you're clearly making more work for yourself than should be necessary!
A BRAND NEW iPad Mini is just $329. What kind of computer are you going to get at that price, honestly? The iPad will last for three years or more too, can you say that about a $329 computer?
Kind of the minimum option, isn't it? As for what you can buy, there are quite a few options in the $200-$300 range that, obviously, will outperform the iPad mini and last 3+ years. If you're willing to buy refurbished, you have even more options.
You'd be amazed at how much life you can get out of a computer these days. Even a mid-range desktop from 2006 can easily meet the needs of the average user. I have little doubt that you'll easily get 3+ years out of a bargain basement $200-$300 computer purchased today.
All of this ignores the fact that many students already have access to a PC or are more likely have access to a PC than an iPad. That is, it's not necessarily an additional cost or consideration.
Or a cheap iPad keyboard case for $20 [amazon.com]...
That is cheap. Not a bad find. I'll recant the expensive bit, but will note that it is still an additional cost.
you seriously still do not understand the HUGE advantage the iPad also has in physical accessories?
No advantage at all! Even with every possible accessory, you still lack an incredible amount of the functionality you'll get out of a cheap netbook.
Of course, that's completely beside the point as the number of accessories has nothing to do with the iPad as an option for beginners to learn computer programming.
You are really, really doing beginners a disservice steering them into the rocky shoals of desktop development at this point in time, when there is a practical path before them
Who said anything about writing desktop apps? We're talking about learning to program, aren't we? There are tons of options. (For example, my younger brother taught himself to program by modifying and then creating his own game mods.)
As the the "practical path" the iPad is certainly NOT a practical path to learning how to program! (See my earlier list.) That it can be done is irrelevant. I can teach someone to program with a CARDIAC as well, but it wouldn't be the best choice!
I'm going to guess that's the issue here. You like the iPad and it can potentially meet that need, therefore it's at least a good option, and in your eyes it's the best option? I just can't get behind that. It doesn't make sense to me when there are (to some degree, objectively) better options on all of the criteria I listed, and I'm certain some criteria that I have not. (You're welcome to list your own criteria, it could be helpful.)
By steering beginners away from the iPad as platform to learn computer programming, I'm doing them a great service! I'm giving them more options. I'm giving them options that are far simpler for beginners than Objective C and Lua (which I think we both agree are not good first languages). I could even be saving them hundreds of dolla
Required reading for internet skeptics
Kids these days are writing iPad apps and actually making money, rather than wasting their time fucking around with a graphing calculator.
I run: Windows, OS X, Linux, FreeBSD. Just because you have a hammer, doesn't mean everything is a nail.
Ridiculous statements do not an argument make. People who use iPads know you are utterly mistaken.
Heck, those "fancy" calculators are easily emulated on the iPad if you absolutely need to have one. What counts as "heavy lifting" in school anyway? Reading textbooks, writing reports, drawing, composing, programming... all can be done on iPads.
You know what, I used google and found out you can buy i-Logo. Starting point for learning a language. An other classic: Basic, can you run that on the iPad? Yes, its called Basic! So, where is the problem?
Second, even if a user is not-so-savvy, there's no inherent requirement to wipe it in order to have root access. While certain methods of acquiring root on certain locked-down devices may require that, none of the 3 Android devices I've had have required it.
My tablet is a first-generation ASUS Nexus 7 running Android 4.3. Everything I've read about rooting it refers to fastboot oem unlock, which implies a wipe. is there another method that works reliably on this device without a wipe?
The iPad, and all tablets like it, are not good programming platforms; for that you need a real keyboard and a larger display. But they have real strengths as textbook replacements and light notetaking devices, which is all that many students need. Engineering students and serious writers will probably continue to need something more like a conventional laptop (or a hybrid tablet/laptop device) for some time to some.
I think the more important question to me - *is* there a good programming language for the iPad or (more importantly for me) the Android platform, preferably without jailbreaking it?
I believe you can run bash after jailbreaking, and that's not un-useful, but yeah, I hadn't realized how much it annoys me that there's no quick easy way to do programming (or frankly, scripting) on my tablet barring that.
Any contenders?
An Invisible Entity of Vast Power whose existence must be taken on faith alone: Liberal Media
If you want a calaulator, get an HP. Easier to use. RPN notation is faster, less prone to errors,
Maybe i am completely off here, but i thought that iPads were computers. you can download whatever interpreters or compilers you want, and write code on a text editor. i remember trying to write programs on the TI 83+ and just being completely baffled. The grapghing calculators are prohibitively expensive for the few tasks they are actually ever necessary for, unless you are a math/physics type major. but having high school kids buy them is stupid. get a refurbished ibm or something and throw a linux distro on it let them go to town, probably be cheaper than a TI too.