Course Reflection

 As I look back over our readings from this course and my reflections upon them, I find that my thinking has not changed a great deal. I still believe in the importance of teaching through history, still am fascinated by storytelling, and still love learning new (which is to say old) ways of doing things. The way that this course has changed me is not in my head, my academic understanding, but in my body. 

I approached this course with some knowledge of historical mathematics, mostly through having read Berlinghoff and Gouvea's book for a previous intellectual pursuit, but the sheer breadth and depth of historical mathematics hadn't sunk into my being yet. This is perhaps too poetic a phrasing, but what I mean is that I didn't fully understand it. I speak about this briefly in my reflection for Assignment 3, but there is a different between thinking something, knowing it, and understanding it. My journey in this course has been a progression along that line from thinking to understanding.

The pieces of the course which really stand out to me and which I would strongly advocate for keeping are assignments 2 and 3. Having the chance to explore math history with some guidance and the impetus of the class was a particularly powerful experience for me, especially crystalizing that exploration into art. I also loved the lesson on multiplication through only doubling: concrete strategies like that will stay with me well into my teaching career as alternatives to suggest to students. 

There is nothing which comes immediately to mind when I imagine making changes to the course. Obviously, painfully, it would be preferable to have met in person. Beyond this, I feel wholly satisfied with the course. I emerge from it with a deeper and broader understanding of the why and how of historical mathematics. Grounding the class in the question "why teach math history?" as a jumping-off point made every lesson feel meaningful to my pursuits as an educator, aside from them being interesting and engaging on their own merits. 

Comments

  1. Susan GerofskyJanuary 20, 2021 at 6:34 PM

    Well said, Jacob. Thank you for your reflections on the course, and especially for all your wonderful contributions to all three of our courses together in the fall semester. I really appreciate your willingness to try new things, to jump in to a discussion with interesting ideas and speculations, and to bring your artistic and academic knowledge from so many areas to your thinking and collaborative work. Looking forward to your interviews in Inquiry 2 as well!

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