I believe that learning the how and why underlying the development of mathematical principles helps students master the subject. Understanding the historical, social and/or personal factors which give rise to the development of mathematical principles gives a different aspect to learning math and can provide the motivation necessary to learn the subject. The goal of this project was to motivate the students and give them reasons to learn more about the people and historical contexts that have led to the development of mathematics.
The study involved a search of the biographical literature about a mathematician, and an inquiry into the various contributions made by him/her. Completing such studies in a short time period is only possible with the use of technology. Many aspects of technology were used in this study. Students researched their subjects using library resources, online databases, and search engines. Use of the Blackboard Discussion Board facilitated group interaction and the exchange of ideas for the project. Each group developed a PowerPoint presentation, incorporating images found on the web.
The biographical research really motivated the students to learn and encouraged them to find ways to apply what they were learning about their subjects to the course curriculum, as well as to other fields of study or employment. I often mentioned the names of mathematicians whose ideas were relevant to the course topics. This helped students to remain interested in their research subjects, and see the relevance of what they were doing. These students had advanced web research skills, so I did not steer them to any particular links. However, I did suggest they take full advantage of the Library and the access to electronic databases like EBSCO HOST and LexisNexis.
Activity Overview
Students were assigned this project at the beginning of the semester; it was due at the end. Otherwise, they worked outside of class time throughout, planning and developing the project with their group members outside of class or over email, and consulting with me before and after class or through email. Occasionally, we used class time to discuss general questions they had about the project. Some students used a Blackboard Discussion forum to check in with their classmates regarding progress on their projects.
Five groups of four students each were established. Each group bore the name of an important mathematician or statistician: Andrei Kolmogrov, Carl Friedrich Gauss, Florence Nightingale, John Tukey, and R. A. Fisher. The students were charged with finding out any important and interesting events in the person's life, researching the contributions of this person to the field of mathematics or statistics, and describing at least one piece of the subject's professional work related to topics in the course curricula.
Students discussed what factors inspired the subject's drive to solve a given mathematical problem, and how the subject's work contributed to the solution. For example in one of the groups, students investigated the life of Florence Nightingale, famous primarily as a nurse. Their research revealed that she also developed many data collection methods and graphing systems needed to convince the authorities about the impact of her activities on improving medical care. In another project, students discovered that probability theory, today crucial to strategic planning and projecting business profits and losses, stemmed from the development of betting strategies in casinos and understanding the profitability of different games and strategies.
The students presented their work utilizing PowerPoint presentations. Two lab sessions were used to make the presentations. Students submitted drafts midway through the semester so I could ensure that their work was on track. Here are several of the students' presentations: