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Sample course syllabi for an interdisciplinary course at
Instructor:
Cinnamon Hillyard,
Quantitative
Skills Center, UWB
Projected
Implementation Date:
Fall Quarter, 2002
Overview:
·
5 credit, 10-week quarter class in the “Interdisciplinary Arts &
Sciences Program” at UWB.
·
Targeted to junior/senior level university students.
·
Each topic would be introduced from a cultural perspective.
Ideally guest lectures from the campus would provide these introductions.
·
Additionally, each topic will include some sort of hands on
experimentation and discovery project designed to put the student’s in a
similar frame of mind as that of the people we are studying.
·
Reading and homework problems will be assigned outside of class to
reinforce both the cultural discussion and the mathematics.
Sample
Topics:
·
Introduction to the history and concept of ethnomathematics
·
Mathematics in India: sand
drawings, Pythagorean theorem, concept of zero
·
Mathematics of the Inca: Quipu, patterns on pottery
·
Mathematics of Japan: origami,
abacus
·
Mathematics of Maya: base 20 number system, Mayan calendar
·
Mathematics of China: magic
squares, Chinese remainder theorem
·
Mathematics of Africa: fractals,
Egyptian mathematics
·
Mathematics of African Americans: need more research here
·
Mathematics of Women: need
more research here
Assessment:
·
Homework assignments: both reading and homework problems will be assigned
to both reinforce as well as expand on the topics discussed in class.
·
In-class exams and quizzes
·
Final paper and presentation: students
will be required to research another ethnomathematics subject (from provided
list of topics) and write a final paper discussing both the culture and the
mathematics they discovered. If
time allows, presentations of these projects will be given in class.
Goals:
·
Students
will be able to see how mathematics is viewed in different cultures.
·
Students
will discover that non-European cultures are in not primitive
·
Students
will have a greater appreciation of the usefulness and application of
mathematics in their own lives.