Final Reflection on EDCP 442

 

The EDCP 442 (History of Mathematics) course has been a very knowledgeable course for me as I gained knowledge about ancient math and how to use that history of math into the mathematics classrooms in the school setting in the form of dance, art, games etc. that I have never thought about before. I also learnt about the importance of the history of math in collaborating with other communities. While working on Assignment 1, I leant that how Pythagoras theorem has been developed in old math, and it inspires me to incorporate that knowledge into my extended practicum in math 8 class when I explore Pythagoras theorem. From our group discussions and working on assignments, I learnt that the one way to increase my knowledge about mathematics topics is to acknowledge the fact that I don’t have much knowledge about the origin of the topic and I need to be open to learning. As a future math teacher, I want to see the same ideology in my students as well. I also learnt with the help of this course to make sure that all students in the classroom are involved in social interactions to learn more about the topic as I learnt from my peers as well in this course. 

           In a nutshell, this course has provided me with a great experience and has enabled me to establish my identity as an educator. This experience has moulded my knowledge in a better way where I can help students to achieve their goals and be successful with their journey.

Reflection on Assignment 3 (Aryabhata and sine table)

 

    While working on this assignment, I found very fascinating information about the sine tables and how Arayabhata found the sine table using Rsine notation. Before this, I only had information of Vedic math and the tricks that Indian used in mathematics; but after working on this assignment, I came to know that Indian mathematics also plays an important role in the geometry and trigonometry as well along with algebra. Doing dance version (Kathak) of the sine function, It made me think that I should try other dance forms as well which will help all students because this classical dance will be hard to understand for all students. 

    I realize that during the interactive activity in the presentation, we should use the slow motion of the steps to understand the step positions. I should show the students the slow-motion of spinning the knee part of dance (Amrit's part) and then increase the frequency to see how it will look in the rotation. 

   I understand that there is not only one way of representing or expressing mathematical concepts in the classrooms. As a future teacher, I am looking forward to incorporating embodied languages in math classrooms.  

Slides for Assignment # 3 (Amrit and Karishma)

 

Here are the slides for the presentation on Aryabhata's sine table and dance:

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1iEmjNow8yfgkHtMMaSnLJlV4cBAnglOj-8MOcKZqfQs/edit#slide=id.ga7cb77dedb_0_8

Topic and References for Assignment 3

 

Assignment 3 Topic and References: Aryabhata and Dance Representation(s) of the Sine Function

Karishma and I are working together on Aryabhata and his sine table. We will represent sine graphs with Kathak dance representations. 

References

Aryabhata. (1976). Aryabhatiya of Aryabhata (K.S. Shukla, & K.V. Sarma, Ed. & Trans.). Indian National Science Academy. (Original work published circa 510 C.E.) https://archive.org/details/Aryabhatiya-with-English-commentary/Aryabhatiya-with-English-commentary/page/n101/mode/2up?q=Rsine.

Berlinghoff , W. P. & Gouvêa, F. Q. (2015). Math through the Ages: A gentle history for teachers and others, Expanded Edition. Mathematical Association of America.

Kalpana, I.M. (2015). Bharatanatyam and Mathematics: Teaching Geometry Through Dance. Journal of Fine and Studio Art. 5(2), 6-17. https://academicjournals.org/journal/JFSA/article-full-text-pdf/502FA2F55648.

NrityodaySiwan. (2013, May 24). How to do Knee Spin also called Krishn gat in Kathak Dance[Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4skLxh2fsc.

O'Connor, J. J. & Robertson, E. F. (2000, November). Aryabhata the Elder. MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive. https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Aryabhata_I/.

Tejsree. (2015, August 21). The Science of Mathematics in Bharata Natyam. Bharata Natyam – The forever legend. https://anju0590.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/the-science-of-mathematics-in-bharata-natyam/.

Blog on Trivium and quadrivium

 

The most exciting thing of this article is Recorde’s method (Page 273) that aroused curiosity in my mind to understand and explore the technique of multiplication. It seems the easiest and neat way of multiplication using base 10. Due to interest, I worked with a few questions on my own (examples in the picture above). While working on questions, I found that if you got the two-digit number by multiplying the right side number (top with bottom), then you can get the final answer by subtracting the left digit of two-digit numbers with the difference of the diagonals. I am not sure whether they were using the same method to solve these problems, but it is a fascinating aspect.

I like the thought of comparing education with the first 35 years of human’s life in the quote when the author said, “He would have the first twenty years spent on gymnastics, music, and grammar, the next ten on arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and harmony, and the next five on philosophy.” (Page 264). I can elaborate on this quote by using my life experience. As my experience, I understand that people are energetic and had much more potential to learn and explore different things during the first 20 years. After that, they become a subconscious about their career and start to think about their family and then they became mature enough to handle the family and social stress.

The last quote that shocked me is about getting a master’s degree in universities during that time. The quote, “There were no examinations in the modern sense of the term. The student had to swear that he had read the books prescribed and attended the lectures. To qualify for a degree, he was required to participate in public disputations, either defending a proposition or opposing one defended by another student.” (Page 272) made me think that there was trust among the people; that is why the authorities just gave the master’s degree to the students on the swear that they had fulfilled all the requirements. It also made me wonder that there was no place of content in the education system.