Nadine

Watching this video, what I stopped to think about right away was the beauty of the nature around them and how they were able to use that to teach Euclidian proofs in an artistic and creative way. I find that the involvement of nature is an excellent learning aid. Even in my other two classes about Kindergarten curriculum and Kindergarten classroom environments, we see that the more children (and even adults!) can explore and use natural learning materials, the better they retain and understand the information, and the more inquiry and imagination is involved! Nature can be a beautiful tool when used for learning all sorts of subjects, but I especially enjoyed it in the way they used it. The sticks and rocks are accessible to everyone which makes it wonderfully repeatable by those watching from home! I also appreciate the physical movement used to demonstrate these proofs. I didn't have a chance to come up with and present my own physical proof using my body because I was absent fr...

 I think  Euclid geometry is still studied today because it's still relevant! "The Elements" seems to have built the foundation that geometry lies on. I think it makes perfect sense that we would study the origins of the first geometry theorems and postulates. It's very useful to study Euclid geometry so we know how such theorems came about and can expand our ways of thinking. I think it's only natural that we learn about the foundations of geometry if we are to also learn about further applications of geometry. I believe it is also studied, not just because of its contributions to math and geometric proofs, but also because of its historic nature, and how it tells a story about a person in history and a story of discovery, which many would find fascinating.  Is there beauty in Euclidian postulates, common notions, and principles for proof? I am a strong believer that there is beauty in everything, however, beauty is in the eye of the beholder! I think you can eve...

Euclid, the father of geometry. What a title! Him being the father of geometry (the discoverer, the interpreter, the communicator of geometry), makes me think that "Euclid alone has looked on beauty bare" is referring to his raw interpretation and discoveries in geometry, hence the word "bare". It seems that the author of this first poem is admirative of his work and of geometry, hence the use of the word "beauty". This aligns well with the next line that warns those who talk foolishly about Euclid's geometry, taking it for granted. It seems the author is pointing out that without this beauty, the world around us full of shapes would be meaningless or would be less fulfilling. I think that the line "Fortunate, they who have heard her massive sandal set on stone" is referring to the gratitude the author feels for Euclid's contributions to geometry, having discovered it bare and then clothed it right down to the shoe.  I find that the secon...

I am so surprised that Pythagorus was not the first to come up with what we know as the Pythagorean theorem. This article opened my eyes to the impact of naming theorems after certain people. The reason I am so shocked at this, as I'm sure others are, is because we've been taught that the name is representative of who invented it. We've learned to celebrate him while ignoring others who have also invented it. I think this makes an incredible difference to our students and their learning. Not only would it be refreshing for Western culture to actually give credit where credit is due, but it would make students feel more represented. Why are all the people we learn about in the history of discovery and invention white men? Every. Single. One of them!!! Isaac Newton, Thomas Edison, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Graham Bell, and even the Wright brothers who were also given way too much credit and wouldn't have been successful without their Wright sister! I think that the ove...

A huge takeaway for me from this project is how embedded math has been in cultures throughout history even if it's not obvious. Taking 20-30 years each to build, a pyramid would typically hold between 1-2 million stones which each weighed around 1-3 tonnes. The labor necessary to build the pyramids must have ruled their lives! And to have calculated the height of the great pyramids to correspond to the age of the Pharaoh who was buried inside to the nearest month showed how mathematics is part of their cultural expression. I imagine that this calculation would have had to be done before they started building, since they'd have to find the resulting volume to in turn calculate how large to make the base. Without the math skills that they possessed, where would they have laid to rest their Pharaohs and kings? Without certain math skills, I imagine that their lives would have been incredibly different! Perhaps the pyramids would have come down to trial and error, or not worked wel...