Designed for precollege teachers by a collaborative of teachers, educators, and mathematicians, Some Applications of Geometric Thinking is based on a course offered in the Summer School Teacher Program at the Park City Mathematics Institute. But this book isn't a ``course'' in the traditional sense. It consists of a carefully sequenced collection of problem sets designed to develop several interconnected mathematical themes, and one of the goals of the problem sets is for readers to uncover these themes for themselves. The goal of Some Applications of Geometric Thinking is to help teachers see that geometric ideas can be used throughout the secondary school curriculum, both as a hub that connects ideas from all parts of secondary school and beyond-algebra, number theory, arithmetic, and data analysis-and as a locus for applications of results and methods from these fields. Some Applications of Geometric Thinking is a volume of the book series IAS/PCMI-The Teacher Program Series' published by the American Mathematical Society. Each volume in this series covers the content of one Summer School Teacher Program year and is independent of the rest.
- Problem sets
- Facilitator guide
- Solutions
Bowen Kerins, Education Development Center, Waltham, MA, USA.
Darryl Yong, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA, USA.
Al Cuoco, Education Development Center, Waltham, MA, USA.
Glenn Stevens, Boston University, MA, USA.
Mary Pilgrim, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CA, USA.
“...[T]hese problems were carefully and coherently sequenced to unfold an interesting mathematical story complete with plot twists and turns, ultimately building to a satisfying resolution of real mathematical substance. In other words, this was not a problem bank to be viewed as a companion resource for a course. Rather, these problem sets entirely define a complete mathematical course. To do justice to these problems and to allow students to experience the joys of discovering the beautiful and often unexpected connections the problems are designed to reveal, one needs to take the plunge and commit to making them the basis of the course. To me, that meant eschewing lecture presentations in favor of letting the problems tell the story. That would constitute my best advice to instructors using the materials: Let the problems tell the story. Go along for the ride, enjoy it yourself, and fight the urge to drive.” - Thomas Dick, The College Mathematics Journal
