This essay has expanded into a 4-parter touching on many inter-related
topics. Especially recommended if you have a web browser with a VRML
viewer plug-in (such as CosmoPlayer 2.1 for Netscape).
One of my goals here is to showcase a synthesis of topical threads
and symbolic manipulation skills I consider potentially prototypical
of what we might offer students in tomorrow's secondary school or
college math classes (in some cases via telecommunications)....
I expect some purists will argue that learning to manage a class
hierarchy, or studying the nitty gritty of specific file formats is
not germane to the task of penetrating to the core of abstract
mathematics. To this criticism I would respond that my curriculum is
not just about training purist mathematicians.
My focus is the rough and tumble "real world" and the role of logical,
methodical, structured patterns of thought applied in problem-solving
and/or tool-designing situations. Students enrolling in such a
curriculum come from many walks of life and want exposure to a broad
range of skills and modes of operation, with an emphasis on gaining
mastery over their personal computers.
That being said, I am not turning my back on the topics traditionally
taken up in a standard mathematics class. Spatial geometry becomes a
bridge to a vast range of topics, all amenable to forms of exploration
using the kinds of skills and tools introduced in these web pages.
Coordinate geometry, matrix-defined transformations (rotation,
translation, scaling), vectors, various attributes of polyhedra (e.g.
groupings by symmetry), sphere packing, lattices, modularizations...
all of these topics are front and center at my Oregon Curriculum
Network website (http://www.inetarena.com/~pdx4d/ocn/).
Kirby Urner
Curriculum writer
Oregon Curriculum Network
Bio note:
I used to work in secondary school math ed at McGraw-Hill, also taught
geometry thru calculus at St. Dominic Academy, a school for young
women in Jersey City, NJ (early 1980s).
>
>For those of you following the thread re getting more geometry
>and technology-informed exercises injected at the community
>college level, I've put together a new web page giving a pretty
>clear idea of what I consider a useful and doable approach:
>
>http://www.inetarena.com/~pdx4d/ocn/oop.html
>
>This kind of thing might be especially welcomed by students who
>want serious liberal arts math, but not necessarily so much
>precalc/calc.
>
>Feedback welcome.
>
>Kirby
>Curriculum writer
>Oregon Curriculum Network
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