Blog Post #21: Course Reflection (what I learned, new ideas, insights from experiences, suggestions for the course)

I never stop talking about how much I love this course! I have even redone some of my presentations from class for family and family friends! I truly cannot offer many suggestions on how to make this course better as I truly admired every moment of it. 

I have learned so much from how math was involved in the construction of ancient Egyptian pyramids, to the history of Pi. I've learned the magic and many different applications of permutations throughout history, and how to use art when teaching Math History. I came into this class not even knowing the true value of math history curriculum, and have come out understanding how incredibly powerful such a class can be. I love that there are people integrated into math and that this course plays a role in decolonizing our history, math, and science books (taking attention away from the often ill-credited white men and giving attention to others who truly deserve it). 

I was fascinated to learn how to demonstrate mathematical proofs with my body and how many of the students so far have demonstrated mathematical ideas through art. I definitely see the world differently now, and am constantly looking for the math in all sorts of things (yoga, mancala, etc). There are so many discoveries that we take for granted or that I truly wasn't even aware of! I will never think of music in the same way as I did before our class learning about math in music theory. 

In my future teaching, I plan on implementing the idea that all students learn differently, and that each way is unique and was probably used by great mathematicians who came before us (even if they aren't using the well known methods to learn math). I feel that offering different perspectives to students in math classes (like the personalities of numbers or the way people used a base 60 system) can be liberating to students who dont share the mainstream perspective on numbers and math. I feel that showing the various perspectives of math through math history can inspire individuality, creativity and confidence in our students. I also will appreciate more of the "fun" side to math rather than the "challenging" side that I always loved more in high school. Math can be taught through games, riddles and word problems, music, and through cultural applications (such as the Quipus) and of course, art which I failed to recognize during my own mathematics education. 

Thank you Susan for the beautiful course! I am sure I will continue obsessively sharing all that I've learned in the years to come!

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