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Creating Mathematical Experience in the Classroom - Summary

Author(s): 
Jorgen Berglund

A majority of the class contributed to and were engaged in the class project. The issues that came up individually and as a class were mathematically rich and led to numerous realizations for the class about the nature of mathematics. Students experienced mathematics as a process of discovery and analysis.

The role of proof in this process was varied. It was a tool for understanding, discovering, verifying, systematizing, and communicating.

Definitions were experienced not as static, but as evolving tools in mathematical thinking and communication.

The versatility and power of dynamic geometry software made this situation possible. It allowed students to explore relationships, follow up on ideas, and test hypotheses. Students became participants in a mathematical experience in a way that would have been difficult, if not impossible, to create without such a program.

Jorgen Berglund, "Creating Mathematical Experience in the Classroom - Summary," Convergence (September 2005)