Hands on history : a resource for teaching mathematics
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
eBook, English, ©2007
Mathematical Association of America, Washington, D.C., ©2007