Integrating Lab Activities into Geometry at Gustavus Adolphus College

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

New standards for the K 12 curriculum which have been developed by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics call for the integration of technology into the teaching and learning of mathematics and for the increased use of active explorations in mathematics. Mathematics education majors need to gain experience in these areas during their preservice mathematics courses, so that they can then bring this knowledge with them into the public schools. The objective of this project is to integrate computer visualization of geometric ideas into a geometry course. Seven lab activities are being developed, with components on Euclidean and Non-Euclidean geometries, transformations and projective geometry, tilings, polyhedra, and geometric constructions. The primary software used to carry out the lab projects is GeomView, a geometry exploration system developed at the Geometry Center in Minneapolis, MN. Additional software will include Mathematica and Geometer's Sketchpad. The project will provide mathematics education majors models and tools which they will integrate into their own teaching, thus strengthening the climate for teaching and learning in the public schools. Evaluation of the effectiveness of the project will be through surveys of teachers once they are in the public schools.