Summer 2014

Mathematics Education on Fundamental Ideas

Conceptual Design

  • Each participant adopts one or several objects of the Göttingen Collection of Mathematical Models and Instruments, or of the exhibition “Mathematik zum Anfassen” (mathematics to touch).
  • Based on the adopted model(s) the student explores a fundamental mathematical concept.
  • He or she prepares three different courses addressing the concept. The three variants of the exposition address students in primary school that are 8 years old, young students in high school (of age 11-13), and high-school students in their final year.
  • The participants give two of the two courses for high-school students. More than 400 students came to the Institute for this purpose.
  • The idea of varying a subject for different audiences equips students to prepare lectures for heterogeneous classrooms.

Example: Learning Steps for the Topic of Tessellations

1. Start from Schoenflies' tesselations in the collection

2. Students adopt different ideas to manufacture tesselations

students make tiles

3. Schoenflies tessellations are reproduced with 3D printing, and used to carry out the tessellations

printed Schoenflies tiles

Literature and Documentation

  • Bartholdi, L., Groth, T., Halverscheid, S., & Samuel, L. (2016). Mathematische Modelle zur Entwicklung und Vernetzung von Modulen in der Lehrerbildung. In Zauzig, O. ; Weber, C.; Link, S. E. & Stricker, M. (2016). Objekte wissenschaftlicher Sammlungen in der universitären Lehre. Berlin: Helmholz-Zentrum für Kulturtechnik.
    Link on HU Berlin Doc-Server