In my classes, I infuse the standard curriculum with a small number of historical and cross-cultural activities closely linked to traditional topics. The activities, which I developed and have used since 2001, take the form of written, self-paced lessons, or “modules.” The students begin the activity in class, working either individually or in small groups for about 30 minutes. They take the work home to complete it, and later submit it to me for grading and comments.
Each activity focuses on a mathematical technique used in the medieval Arab world. My students look at the cultural and historical context of the technique and its links to other methods. They explore the theory behind the technique, and they see how it is used to solve “real-world” problems, often including the type of problem that prompted its discovery.
The major goals of these activities are:
Creating new instructional materials along these lines is challenging. Most of my students are very practical-minded young people who are training for positions in the business, health, and engineering professions. My approach has been to recast information so that it is comprehensible and appealing to them, while preserving the basic integrity of the mathematics, cultures, and histories involved. Based on my experience, I have formulated a five-point strategy for developing cross-cultural activities:
Much of the remainder of this article will be devoted to illustrating my five-point strategy by describing classroom activities that I have developed.