Evolving Thoughts

Why didn’t I think of that?

Posted by John S. Wilkins on March 23, 2009
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Kate Devitt is so much better a teacher than I am (and she’s smarter, better educated and more attractive a person, but let’s deal with just one of my insecurities at a time, hey?). I wish I had thought to teach students about Turing Machines like this.

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Comments

  1. #1 Bob O'H
    March 24, 2009

    As homework they could be asked to be a Turing machine that would act as Windows XP.

  2. #2 Thony C.
    March 24, 2009

    Fucking brilliant! Can I marry that woman? Not that she’d have me!

  3. #3 John S. Wilkins
    March 24, 2009

    XP is easy to simulate. Just get a bunch of students with multifarious viral infections to move veeerrryyy sllloooowwwlllyyy.

    Thony, you are way too late. She is very happily married.

  4. #4 Thony C.
    March 24, 2009

    Thony, you are way too late.

    The story of my life in six simple words.

  5. #5 John S. Wilkins
    March 25, 2009

    And mine. Again, and again…

  6. #6 Peter Bradley
    March 25, 2009

    I mentioned it on my comments on Kate’s blog as well, but if you’re interested in dynamic Turing machines, I have a few here, in flash: http://inquiry.mcdaniel.edu/turing/

    I think that her technique has great value, as any kind of physical activity in a classroom is likely to have cognitive payoff, but these can supplement such activity nicely.