Hands on history : a resource for teaching mathematics / edited by Amy Shell-Gellasch.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Shell-Gellasch, Amy, editor.

Series:

MAA notes ; no. 72.

MAA notes ; no. 72

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Mathematics--Study and teaching (Secondary).

Mathematics.

Mathematics--Study and teaching (Higher).

Mathematics--History.

Mathematical instruments.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (xii, 177 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Place of Publication:

Washington : Mathematical Association of America, 2007.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This volume is a compilation of articles from researchers and educators who use the history of mathematics to facilitate active learning in the classroom. The contributions range from simple devices such as the rectangular protractor that can be made in a geometry classroom, to elaborate models of descriptive geometry that can be used as a major project in a college mathematics course. Other chapters contain detailed descriptions on how to build and use historical models in the high school or collegiate mathematics classroom. Some of the items included in this volume are: sundials, planimeters, Napier's Bones, linkages, cycloid clock, a labyrinth, and an apparatus that demonstrates the brachistocrone in the classroom. Whether replicas of historical devices or models are used to represent a topic from the history of mathematics, using models of a historical nature allows students to combine three important areas of their education: mathematics and mathematical reasoning; mechanical and spatial reasoning and manipulation; and evaluation of historical versus contemporary mathematical techniques.

Contents:

Learning from the medieval master masons : a geometric journey through the labyrinth / Hugh McCague

Dem bones ain't dead : Napier's bones in the classroom / Joanne Peeples

The towers of Hanoi / Amy Shell-Gellasch

Rectangular protractors and the mathematics classroom / Amy Ackerberg-Hastings

Was Pythagoras Chinese? / David E. Zitarelli

Geometric string models of descriptive geometry / Amy Shell-Gellasch, Bill Acheson

The French Curve / Brian J. Lunday

Area without integration : make your own planimeter / Robert L. Foote, Ed Sandifer

Historical mechanisms for drawing curves / Daina Taimina

Learning from the Roman land surveyors : a mathematical field exercise / Hugh McCague

Equating the sun : geometry, models, and practical computing in Greek astronomy / James Evans

Sundials : an introduction to the history, design, and construction / J.L. Berggren

Why is a square square and a cube cubical? / Amy Shell-Gellasch

The cycloid pendulum clock of Christiaan Huygens / Katherine Inouye Lau, Kim Plofker

Build a brachistochrone and captivate your class / V. Frederick Rickey

Exhibiting mathematical objects : making sense of your department's material culture / Peggy Aldrich Kidwell, Amy Ackerberg-Hastings.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references.

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

ISBN:

0-88385-976-9