Changing the Culture 2000
The Third Annual Conference, organized and sponsored by PIMS, will again bring together mathematics researchers, educators and school teachers from all levels to work towards narrowing the gap between those who enjoy mathematics and those who think they don't. Its theme this time is Visualisation in Mathematics.
|
The advent of affordable computers with huge storage and communication capabilities
seems to promise a golden age of mathematical visualisation. The question is to what extent it can relieve
us of the laborious doodling and imagining that has always been an integral part of mathematical activity. When asked about the nature of his thinking, Einstein once replied that it was a mixture of visual and kinesthetic elements. The plausibility of that reply is corroborated by any observation of people grappling with mathematics -- say, students taking an exam. When they are not busy writing or drawing, they tend to stare into space or at the ceiling, stab or stroke the air, drum or scribble with their fingers, and the like. Our question therefore has two parts: (1) what exactly is going on there, and (2) how can computers be integrated into that process? |
The planning for this conference is still incomplete, but the following events -- in chronolgical order -- will almost certainly be part of it.
Hi-tech. Cinderella is a new constructive geometry program along the lines of Geometer's Sketchpad but with an enlarged and differently designed arsenal of tools. June Lester, University of New Brunswick, will give a demonstration of it and lead a couple of workshops for those interested in a closer acquaintance.
Lo-tech. Malgorzata Dubiel, SFU, is one of Canada's top experts in constructing geometric models on the crucial hands-on level. She is also the main organiser this conference. Her workshop will include pop-up fractals, origami, polyhedra, and more.
No-tech. The third workshop will re-examine high school geometry in the light of the Geometry Resource Package released by the BC Student Assessment and Program Evaluation Branch in September 1999. It will be led by KLaus Hoechsmann, UBC.
Each workshop will last 90 minutes and will take place twice, once in the morning and again in the afternoon. Thus, articipants will be able (but not obliged) to sign up for two of the three. Plenty of time will be left for coffee breaks and other opportunities for informal encounters.
The conference is free of charge, but registration (by April 14, 2000) is required since space -- though relatively ample -- is nevertheless limited. Further information, as well as an electronic registration form, will be available at