EDCP 442 Reflection

This course has been one of the most wonderful parts of this semester!

Analyzing the relevance of mathematics to non-Euro/Western cultures and civilizations really highlighted the impact of the industrialization of education today. I love the journey we went through every class, that began with familiarizing ourselves with the contemporary applications, proceeded to historical roots, and then amalgamated old traditions in a present setting. It was so helpful for developing our interest and appreciation of those topics. The readings were very intriguing and paved the way for a lot of fun. The best part about this mathematics history course is that it deepened our curiosity for math in such a simple and transformative way!

The activities in this course were very meaningful and granted us a deeper appreciation for every single topic that we've covered so far. I really enjoyed learning about cool math things like the magic square and number personification. My favourite topics though were on Ancient Babylonian, Mayan, Chinese, and Arabian mathematics, because the lives of those mathematicians and citizens were absolutely fascinating! I took to Arabian mathematics, geometry, and architectural work with a lot of enthusiasm, especially since its a wonderful topic that doesn't get covered in traditional math learning pathway. It also challenged the preconceived notions I had about the individuals that did mathematics, as well as the societal relevance and the development of some ideas. That said, my perspective on teaching mathematics has only gotten stronger, and I hope to try quite a number of these activities as warm-ups in my future math classes!

Given the online delivery, there's not much I would change. I appreciated the current format because there was a lot of room and support when it came to diverging on different tangents on the same topic, and different perspectives and processes were highly encouraged and welcomed. There were quite a number of other topics that would have been really cool to explore, but that's where the beauty of this course comes in- we are now better equipped with the ability to conduct our own research based on our own interests. In that sense, assignments 2 and 3 were very important for developing those skills; that said, I might have preferred if there was the option for assignment 3 to be done individually, because each of us had a special topic that resonated really well individually, and there was already quite a lot of group work done this semester. Just based on how much my understanding and passion for mathematics has evolved over the course of this course, all that I have left to do is start drafting up dozens of activities for my lesson plans, which I look forward to! 

Thank you, Susan and Amanda :)