The New Yorker recently published this wonderful piece by Alec Wilkinson. Wilkinson, who also published a book about his Johnny-come-lately (but enthusiastically!) experience studying math in his sixties titled A Divine Language: Learning Algebra, Geometry, and Calculus at the Edge of Old Age, writes beautifully about how math changed his worldview and bettered his daily life. While I’m fairly certain I’ll never share Wilkinson’s fervor for the subject at hand, I do connect to the idea that seeking out something to tackle with the mindset of a humble student, especially during a big life transition, can be tremendously rewarding, and if you’re lucky, life-changing.
Five years ago, when I was sixty-five, I decided to study adolescent mathematics, because my first encounter with it had left me feeling stupid and defeated. Also unsettled, privately, about my fitness for a successful life, since I hadn’t ever lost so profoundly to anything like I lost to math. It led me to wonder how many more losses might await me and how many might result from similar, not-yet-come-upon insufficiencies.
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Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.
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