As far as first assignments go, I was really impressed with how our group gelled together. I had the pleasure of working with Karishma and Ivan on the ancient Babylonian problem regarding Sagitta and Chord. What worked really well for us was delegating work evenly, but also providing critical feedback to each other so we could continuously build upon ideas. This reminds me of many of the things we talk about in class such as collaboration with other teachers to have better lesson plans/classes. I feel because of this we were able to have a better flowing presentation, but also had our own ways of explaining the problem. My part of the presentation was to think of the extension question/problem, and I tried my best to have fun with it. I've found that practice math questions can be boring for students, so I try to find ways to make them exciting. In class during our brief post-discussion Susan mentioned how kids may relate better to dragons than squares and circles, something that resonated with me as part of the fun in math is creating problems that extend from the imagination!
In terms of the actual material, it was different putting myself in a Babylonians' 'shoes' and figuring out the applications of the mathematics. One of the cool pieces I learnt from Karishma was how the Sagitta and Chord could possibly be used for building archways like the Ishtar Gate. The mathematical advancements that the Babylonians had was almost indescribable, they were so much further ahead of their time.
Great! Thanks Tyler.
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