My Final Reflection on EDCP 442

This has been a wonderful journey to learn about a rich side of Math which I thought really little about.

While Susan has structured the course in the chronological order of past civilizations, it was eye-opening to see how capable ancient people were in using mathematics to aid their lives. Learning the intricacies of the base 60 system in Babylonian math and its relationship to time was fun. I still remember that the 24-hour system was introduced as early as around 147 BC Hipparchus. As someone who grew up only knowing base 10 and base 2 systems, I never thought about how base 10 is just a construct instead of an empirical truth.

Another aspect of the class I enjoyed was also the recognition that math history and contributions have been largely euro-centric. The progression of the course focusing on other non-European history was helpful and insightful for someone who came from a Chinese background.

Math problems have also been a challenge as an ELL student in the past. Seeing how this trend started early on in history was a testament that all Math learners of all ages have to 'suffer' through this experience. But with all joking aside, the word problems serve an important purpose for math communication and modelling. Students garner these skills to combine Math and English comprehension.

There are more memorable moments of this class which I hope to carry forward into my future lessons. Thanks again for this amazing class, Susan!

Comments

  1. Susan GerofskyJanuary 5, 2025 at 7:39 PM

    Thanks so much, Raymond! You have been a great contributor throughout both our classes together. I appreciate your thoughtful commentary!

    ReplyDelete

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