The Forum: What Should Become of the High School Geometry Course?: The Present Year-Long Course in Euclidean Geometry Must Go

1972 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-154
Author(s):  
Howard F. Fehr
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Euclidean Geometry ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Study Group ◽  
High School Geometry ◽  
School Year ◽  
School Geometry ◽  
Long Course ◽  
Coordinate Geometry

It is assumed that the geometey course refers to one that is commonly taught in the tenth school year. It is traditional Euclidean synthetic geometry, 2- and 3-space, modified by an introduction of ruler and protractor axioms into the usual synthetic axioms. A unit of coordinate geometry of the plane is usually appended. It is a course that is reflected in textbooks prepared by the School Mathematics Study Group and in most commercial textbooks.

The Present Year-Long Course in Euclidean Geometry Must Go

2006 ◽  
Vol 100 (3) ◽  
pp. 165-168
Author(s):  
Howard F. Fehr
Keyword(s):  
Euclidean Geometry ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Study Group ◽  
School Year ◽  
Long Course ◽  
Coordinate Geometry

It is assumed that the geometry course refers to one that is commonly taught in the tenth school year. It is traditional Euclidean synthetic geometry, of 2- and 3-space, modified by an introduction of ruler and protractor axioms into the usual synthetic axioms. A unit of coordinate geometry of the plane is usually appended. It is a course that is reflected in textbooks prepared by the School Mathematics Study Group and in most commercial textbooks.

Experimental Programs: Coordinate Geometry with an Affine Approach

1964 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 404-405
Author(s):  
Harry Sitomer
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
High School Teachers ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Study Group ◽  
School Teachers ◽  
High School Geometry ◽  
School Geometry ◽  
Coordinate Geometry

In the spring of 1961, the School Mathematics Study Group convened a group of college mathematicians and high school teachers of mathematics to consider plans for writing an alternate high school geometry course, in which coordinates would be introduced and used as early as feasible.

What are Perpendicular Lines?

1967 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-30
Author(s):  
C. R. Wylie
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Mathematics Teacher ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Experimental Program ◽  
Study Group ◽  
Recent Issue ◽  
High School Geometry ◽  
School Geometry ◽  
Coordinate Geometry

In a recent issue of The Mathematics Teacher,1 Harry Sitomer described an experimental program in high school geometry originally recommended to the School Mathematics Study Group by some of its advisers but finally undertaken by the Wesleyan Coordinate Geometry Group.

Euclid and Descartes: A Partnership

1991 ◽  
Vol 84 (9) ◽  
pp. 706-709
Author(s):  
Dorothy Hoy Wasdovich
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Euclidean Geometry ◽  
High School Geometry ◽  
School Geometry ◽  
And Algebra ◽  
First Time ◽  
Coordinate Geometry

Although Descartes developed the application of algebra to geometry over 400 years ago, his work has had little impact on the high school geometry course. Geometry and algebra are still taught as separate, unrelated subjects rather than as complementary approaches to mathematics. Any coordinate geometry that is included in a course in Euclidean geometry is apt to be placed in one chapter or unit with the implication that it is “optional” and the material covers theorems that have already been proved. If methods of proof are to be compared, why not do it the first time a theorem is encountered?

Let’s Use Trigonometry

1975 ◽  
Vol 68 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-160
Author(s):  
John J. Rodgers
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
High School Mathematics ◽  
Mathematics Courses ◽  
High School Geometry ◽  
School Geometry ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Order Of Presentation

All too often in the teaching of high school mathematics courses, we overlook the inherent flexibility and interdependence of the subject matter. It is easy to fall into the trap of presenting algebra, trigonometry, geometry, and so on, as separate areas of study. It is because they were taught this way traditionally. With relatively minor changes in the order of presentation, we can demonstrate to the student the vital interconnectiveness of mathematics. For example, many courses in high school geometry include a unit on trigonometry. The student learns three trigonometric ratios, namely, the sine, the cosine, and the tangent. He also learns to use the trigonometric tables to solve for an unknown side of a right triangle. Generally this material comes quite late in the year.

Fixed Point Theorems in Euclidean Geometry

1973 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 324-330
Author(s):  
Stanley R. Clemens
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Fixed Point ◽  
Fixed Point Theorems ◽  
Euclidean Geometry ◽  
Transformation Theory ◽  
High School Geometry ◽  
School Geometry ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Points Of View ◽  
Modern Mathematics

The direction of future high school geometry courses is currently the subject of much discussion. One frequent suggestion is that high school geometry should be presented with transformation theory as the unifying theme. In support of this new direction, we shall illustrate that transformations can be employed to bring theorems from classical synthetic geometry into the so-called mainstream of modern mathematics. The thread tying these two points of view together will be the application of fixed point theorems.

Prove It

1998 ◽  
Vol 91 (8) ◽  
pp. 726-728
Author(s):  
Amy A. Prince
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
High School Geometry ◽  
School Geometry

Ask anyone who has taken high school geometry, and he or she will have a notion of a proof— generally, a two-column proof of statements and reasons. The two-column proof has fallen out of favor in such reform documents as the NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics, which seeks to emphasize “deductive arguments expressed orally or in sentence or paragraph form” (NCTM 1989, 126). The two-column proof is a somewhat rigid form, yet it demonstrates to the students that they may not just give statements or draw conclusions without sound mathematical reasons.

Neutral and Non-Euclidean Geometry— A High School Course

1977 ◽  
Vol 70 (4) ◽  
pp. 310-314
Author(s):  
Peter A. Krauss ◽  
Steven L. Okolica
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Euclidean Geometry ◽  
High School Geometry ◽  
School Geometry ◽  
Non Euclidean Geometry

Report of a promising classroom-tested alternative in high school geometry.

Connecting Research to Teaching: Mathematics as Reasoning

1995 ◽  
Vol 88 (5) ◽  
pp. 412-417
Author(s):  
Peter Galbraith
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Mathematical Reasoning ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
High School Geometry ◽  
School Geometry ◽  
Mathematical Quality

The Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (NCTM 1989) defines a role for reasoning in school mathematics that is far different from the norm of recent practice. Until recently, the study of mathematical reasoning was largely confined to high school geometry. Further, as Schoenfeld (1988) pointed out, the approach used in geometry was often so rigid that it conveyed the impression that the style of the response—for example, the two-column-proof format—was more important than its mathematical quality. The Standards document notes that reasoning is to have a role in all of mathematics from the earliest grades on up and that the form of justification need not follow a pre scribed format. Indeed, students are encouraged to explain their reasoning in their own words. Teachers are asked to present opportunities for students to refine their own thoughts and language by sharing ideas with their peers and the teacher.

Using The Geometer's Sketchpad to Visualize Maximum-Volume Problems

2000 ◽  
Vol 93 (3) ◽  
pp. 224-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Purdy
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
Graphing Calculator ◽  
School Mathematics ◽  
Teaching Mathematics ◽  
Geometer's Sketchpad ◽  
Maximum Volume ◽  
Evaluation Standards ◽  
High School Geometry ◽  
School Geometry ◽  
Traditional Courses

An underlying tenet of the NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) and other movements toward reform in school mathematics is breaking down content barriers between traditional mathematical topics, with the goal of teaching mathematics as a logically interconnected body of thought. As teachers move toward integrating the various areas of mathematics into traditional courses, problems that were once reserved for higher courses, for example, precalculus and calculus, now surface earlier as interesting explorations that can be tackled with such tools as the graphing calculator. One such problem is the well-known maximum-volume-box problem. Although this problem and related optimization questions have been common in advanced algebra, precalculus, and calculus textbooks, they have only recently found their way into high school geometry textbooks, including Discovering Geometry: An Inductive Approach (Serra 1997).

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