As scholars discover more about the ways ancient civilizations used mathematical concepts, faculty who teach mathematics and math education are incorporating more culturally-specific knowledge into their courses. 

 

These new discoveries have prompted Iman Chahine, assistant professor in the College of Education's Department of Middle-Secondary Education and Instructional Technology, and Margo Alexander from Georgia State University's Department of Mathematics and Statistics, to combine their courses on ethnomathematics-which highlights the mathematics learned outside of the classroom in various cultures-and the history of math to provide a clear account of the evolution of mathematics across ancient and contemporary cultures.  

 

Chahine and Alexander are co-teaching this combined course to 23 undergraduate and graduate students-a mix of math majors from the College of Arts and Sciences and math education majors from the College of Education. These students not only learn the history behind specific mathematical concepts, but also see how different cultures teach and use mathematics in daily life.

 

"We started thinking about the commonalities between our courses so that we could design the syllabus in a way that gives one, continuous learning experience for students," Chahine explained. "For example, Dr. Alexander will talk about mathematician Blaise Pascal and the Pascal triangle, and I'll talk about the practices the Zulu people in South Africa do that are based on the same mathematical principle." 

  

To read more about this combined course, click here.

 

Photo caption: Margo Alexander and Iman Chahine teach students about units of measure during a recent class.