having fun? Just keep tanking your reputation here.
I started using blender when I was either 13 or almost 13. Then I entered geometry a year ahead of normal and passed easily because I knew alot about it from blender. Distance formulas and all sorts off stuff from looking at python scripts (which I never learned of course). But blender prepared me very well for it. And its easier to learn the geometry because you can see it happening, like this point comes from there ect. Its also easier to show the wierd 3d stuff like prisms that sometimes catch people who only look at them on paper.
I say go for it! 
I guess I owe my math prudence to God first of all, but then blender eh?
I think it’s a super idea! As a self-proclaimed math dummy I’d LOVE to take your class and finally get some concrete understanding of the mathematical underpinnings of this artistic tool called Blender are ^.^ So if I was in school still you’d be my favorite teacher 
Neomego, nice style…if personal attacks don’t shut the opposition up, then try humiliation. If my reputation is “tanked” because I voice my opinion, then so be it.
See, the thing is, I really don’t care about your opinion, as it is obviously lame. I am not trying to humiliate, I am just saying you need to calm down.
And it seems you are the only one who believes blender would be a poor tool for teaching math. Indeed, you have presented no evidence as to why, and no reasoning behind your statements, just a couple of ROTFLMAO’s.
Don’t get pissed. Just calm down… you need the community.
Grimey,
You made your point, please keep it ontopic. If you read the comments of Alvaro you should understand Blender can be used for teaching, he has actually done it. Maybe for you Blender is a useless tool for these things but apparrently other don’t agree with that. This thread is not for who’s right or wrong but to give advice…
I would have loved it if my math teacher would have used 3D (and 2D) tools to make math more clear and more fun.
See, the thing is, I really don’t care about your opinion,
…then why do you keep posting replies.
please keep it ontopic
…it is. I was asked about references and such, then it degraded to what it is now.
Just calm down
…I am
you need the community.
…this is true, but I miss the point
because I care about you, Grimey.
If you just take the time to look at the source code there is a lot of math in there. Not only can you visualize concepts quickly, you can also see how it applies in the real world with respect to programming.
I was learning about rotation vectors by searching the web and all the concepts explained were found directly in the source code. It even allowd for viewing a math problem from multiple angles as the theory and code differed in approach ( ie; more than one was to solve a problem ).
Browsing through my old analytical geometry and calculus books I only wish I could manipulate the pictures to help me grasp a concept.
Just for fun here see this blend file that I used as a doodle pad while doing rotation angles. I don’t know if there are many errors and it was never finished ( no animation ).
regards
honeycomb
Some simple examples that you could set up before hand and demonstrate, though this might be a little to advanced for high school geometry, show them the relationship between the IPO window, and the movement associated with the curve. That is as good as any other graph you can show them, and it shows that the coresponding numbers on the graph show how many units it has moved.
Anyway, that’s an example that I thought of, I’ll try to think of more and post them.
show them the relationship between the IPO window, and the movement associated with the curve.
Agreed. Get the students to create a convincing bouncing ball action, with the ball having a direction (in X and Y) and the bounce reducing to a halt. But get them to do it using ONLY IPO curves on a UV sphere - no keyframing. This introduces complex x,y,z relationships combined with a bit of physics. They could/should include ball rotation and if they are the least bit cluey on animation - squash and stretch too.
Give them a timeframe, frames per second setting and number of required bounces so they also have to calculate the total number of frames and appropriate spacing of bounces within that timeframe.
Of course, if you really want to get serious with the maths concepts in Blender, teach them Python scripting or actual coding.
If you’re into calculus, teach them about quaternion rotations and how they are better or worse than Euler rotations.
I think that in highschool I would’ve absolutely loved LOVED something like that. Yet, I’m thinking of all my friends who despised maths and liked their computer experience as easy as possible, and maybe if you made a compulsory Blender unit it would be frustrating to some. Maybe it would be better to start off with an extracurricular activity and then you will catch all the really interested students, and see how it goes.
About math teaching, yeah, I think there are a lot of programs better suited for that than Blender, but I don’t think any of those has a lot of “fun” potential.
One thing that might be taught with blender is the geometry behind curves, but I don’t know very much about the mathematics behind NURBS or Bezier, so I dunno how it could be done.
And about teaching the basics, I really think it is not such a big deal. 3 mouse buttons, 3 numpad keys(7,1,3), TAB, G, R, S and you’re ready to go…
oh, and grimey, could you ellaborate on the issue of computing hampering the learning experience? Please.