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Modelling with poetry in an introductory college algebra course and beyond

2009; Taylor & Francis; Volume: 3; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/17513470903167731

1751-3472

Sarah Glaz, Su Liang,

Cognitive and developmental aspects of mathematical skills

Abstract The main focus of this article is the pedagogical use of poetry in a college course, Introductory College Algebra and Mathematical Modelling, which was designed to prepare students with weak mathematics background for science courses. We use poetry projects to ease the difficulties students have with the transition between word-problems representing natural phenomena, and the corresponding mathematical models–the equations representing the phenomena. We also use poetry projects to stimulate classroom participation, develop mathematical intuition, enhance number sense and introduce new concepts in an engaging setting. We present two examples of group-projects that we employed in our course, as well as a number of other poems which may be used to construct additional group or individual projects in courses of similar mathematical level. We conclude by providing a brief survey of the pedagogical uses of poetry in the K-14 mathematics classroom, and examples of poetry that may be used to enhance learning experience in calculus classes. Keywords: poetryintermediate algebramathematical modellingBhaskaracharyaMartin GardnercalculusAMS Subject Classifications:: 97D3097D4097D20 Acknowledgements The first author's work on this project was partially supported by a 2005 University of Connecticut Provost's General Education Course Development Grant. The authors thank Suman Lata, from the Statistics Department of the University of Connecticut, for the statistical analysis of the data set. The authors also thank the anonymous referees for suggestions that improved the content and presentation of this article. The authors gratefully acknowledge the following permissions to reprint: 'Lilavati's Swarm', poem excerpt by Bhaskaracharya, is reprinted from The Man Who Counted, by Malba Tahan, translated by Leslie Clark and Alastair Reid. © 1972 Helio Marcial de Faria Pereira. Translation © 1993 by Leslie Clark and Alastair Reid. With permission of the publisher, W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 'A Mathematical Problem', and 'How Many Lotus Flowers' in Lilavati, is reprinted from The Universal History of Numbers, by Georges Ifrah, translated by David Bellos, E.F. Harding, Sophie Wood, and Ian Monk, John Wiley & Sons, 2000. English translation © 1998 by Harvill Press. Reprinted by permission of Random House Group Ltd., and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 'How Old is the Rose-Red City' is reprinted from My Best Mathematical and Logic Puzzles, by Martin Gardner, Dover Publications Inc., 1994. Used by permission of the author. 'If dy/dx = 4x 3 − x 2 − 12/sqt(2x 2 − 9), then' is reprinted from Asylum, by Quan Barry, © 2001. Reprinted by permission of the University of Pittsburgh Press, and the author. 'The Spider and the Fly' and 'A Tale of the Cats' from Fun With Figures (1965) and 'An Ugly Monster' from More Fun With Figures (1966), by J.A.H. Hunter, Dover Publications. Used by permission of Dover Publications.