Arcavi Response. September 10th, 2018

Before I begin reading, I would like to say that I personally believe math history should be a vital part of lesson plans for teachers. I believe, if done right, it can both evoke curiosity in students and teach students about how mathematics have evolved throughout history. Throughout history, people didn't educate themselves with math in hopes to perfect their scores on a standardized exam. Instead, they used mathematics to help make what was deemed impossible at the time into something realistically attainable. Computers, telephones, automobiles are relatively recent inventions, with exponential improvements made on a regular basis. I believe that helping students understand the uses of mathematics and their targeted struggles will build insight and fascination in students' minds.

 The first topic of interest, the notion of bridging mathematical history with other subjects, made me consider the implications it had on academic structures in the school system. We now have a set curriculum in BC, which divides classes into different subject areas. There are separate classes for English, History, Mathematics, Socials, Chemistry, and so forth. I believe this may bring forth the unconscious view that different subject areas are not meant to coexist or interact with one another. But there is nothing further from the truth! I believe that to fully learn is to have a disciplined understanding that different fields of academia may not only work together, but can actually help foster growth and creativity, more so than just segregating them into distinct subjects.

The second thing to catch my eye is the idea that there would be a lack or time, resources, and expertise from education professionals to integrate mathematical history into the curriculum. For me, this argument does not hold water. What educators may possibly lack, in this case, is the required training and schooling to properly combine mathematical history into their teaching. As stated earlier, we are currently in a society where improvements are being made on a consistent basis. Even the education program in most, if not all, post-secondary institutions have gone through regular annual changes. In other words, we are constantly improving how to teach teachers the art of teaching.

I have always believed that mathematical history should be implemented into every child's education career, regardless of whether a child has to take math or not. I don't believe this article has made me changed my mind. If anything, it has only added to my passion of supporting the idea of having children learn mathematical history. Students may learn that math is important to help further their education, but they don't always understand why math is important to help further society.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Assignment 2 Response

I believe that our "Napier's Bones" presentation was quite a treat for some students in class. The gasps of finding out how they did multiplication was very rewarding, because the enjoyment and satisfaction of teaching students something they didn't know really made us happy. I believe that this activity is a fun activity for younger grades, most preferably in elementary school, because it serves as a visual aid to multiplying and dividing numbers. The concept itself isn't very different from how most people learned to multiply, but it shows the type of thinking required for though multiplying "ugly" numbers together. For example, if I were to multiply 37 and 35, it would be easier (for me) to calculate (30 x 35) + (7 x 35) instead. This breakdown of the numbers greatly reduces the stress on a student, and helps them piece together the multiplication instead of having them do difficult mental math.
Read more

Final Project: Alan Turing

My project will be a series of journal articles told through the perspective of a British soldier during the second world war. It will discuss the great works of Alan Turing and how he cut the war short by several years, allowing the soldier to avoid the high potential of death. Strawn G. Alan turing.  IT Professional . 2014;16(1):5-7. Anguera de Sojo A, Ares J, Lara JA, Lizcano D, Martínez MA, Pazos J. Turing and the serendipitous               discovery of the modern computer.  Foundations of Science . 2013;18(3):545-557. Dyson G. The dawn of computing: Alan turing's bridging of logic and machines laid the foundation for               digital computers.  Nature . 2012;482(7386):459. How Alan Turing Cracked The Enigma Code. (n.d.). Retrieved November 26, 2018, from                           https://www.iwm.org.uk/h...
Read more

Was Pythagoras Chinese?

Unless it is a mathematics history course, I do not believe it is necessary to acknowledge any source of mathematics. I personally do not believe that knowing how the Chinese demonstrated a fundamental understanding of a theorem named after Pythagoras will affect how my understanding of said theorem. It is amazing that the Chinese were able to understand various different advanced mathematical concepts, that I will not argue against. However, my life or mathematical abilities have not changed the slightest upon reading about the many advances during the Yellow King's ruling period. If it comes to properly naming something, I do agree that they should be done correctly. Giving credit to where it is due is important, but there are times when a discovery was made by someone who also influenced other fields of academia. Euclid was not only known for Elements , but also for his work on the field of geometry as well. But this only goes back to the my initial argument that it only matters...
Read more