Do you remember your math classes when you were a kid? Were you fascinated by equations or did you feel bored enough to look at the birds through the school's windows? If your answer is the second one, there is hope -- at least for your kids. A professor at the University of Florida has worked for ten years on the concept of aesthetic computing. This new approach can be used to teach algebra by encouraging students to express equations as pictures or stories. "The basic idea of aesthetic computing is to make abstract ideas or algebraic formulas 'real' through drawings, sculptures or computer graphics." So far, only a dozen teachers have followed a workshop about the concept and might use it for their future classes. But if enough math teachers read this column, this might change, so read more...
Sources: University of Florida News, September 28, 2005; and various web sites
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