with
David Pengelley,
New Mexico State University
and
Daniel E. Otero,
Xavier Univeristy
June 18-20, 2008
Xavier University,
Cincinnati, Ohio
OVERVIEW: Participants in this Short Course will learn about teaching with primary historical sources in mathematics, and will be given the opportunity to prepare some primary sources of their own choosing to use in their own classrooms. They will also see how reading, studying, and teaching with primary sources can lead to scholarship in history of mathematics. The co-leaders of this workshop each have almost two decades of experience teaching with primary historical sources in many courses and mathematical subjects at various undergraduate levels, and have presented and published extensively in this area.
There are many benefits to teaching with primary sources. It can capture the
spark of discovery and motivate subsequent lines of inquiry, placing the learner
close to the initial solution of problems that would eventually find resolution
in modern concepts.
Minicourse participants will first be introduced to various primary source material
that others have developed and used in undergraduate teaching, and model in
groups the process of being students with these materials. Then participants
will learn about the wealth of relevant materials available in libraries and
through the internet, and begin their own investigations towards selecting and
preparing primary sources for their teaching. With guidance from the minicourse
leaders, each participant will go through cycles of work resulting in primary
sources prepared for their own classes, culminating in presentations of the
results to the whole group.
We will also visit the Rare
Books Collection at the University of Cincinnati to see first-hand some
old and rare books important in the history of mathematics (e.g., a 1546 printing
of Campanus’ edition of Euclid’s Elements, a first Latin
edition of Descartes’ Geometria from 1659, Jakob Bernoulli’s
Ars Conjectandi from 1713, et al.). Evening social activities will
also be planned.
Registration is $175.00. Limit
25 participants. Deadline: 19 May 2008
Participants should send a $50.00 deposit (checks made out to Xavier University)
to
Daniel E. Otero
Department of Mathematics & Computer Science
Xavier University
Cincinnati, OH 45207-4441
Include contact information and name of home institution
with your deposit.