It was interesting to go back and reread my blogs. In my first post, I talked a little bit about how I had not really considered the idea that geometry was about relationships. Although I never really mentioned this again, I think in almost every subsequent post I talk about something related to geometry: art, technology, algebra, language, etc. In our last class, we also talked about how for most people, geometry was not a positive experience. One of my classmates said the only thing he remembered were endless months of proofs, and that he hated it. My own high school used integrated curriculum, so I have no memories of “boy, algebra really sucked,” or “Geometry was lame,” or “Trig was the hardest thing ever.” I just took a math class (one, two, and three).
What is really getting me is that as far as I understand it, geometry is the branch of mathematics most closely related to something people should enjoy: beauty. If anything, geometry should be everyone’s favorite class. That it’s not tells me we’re doing something wrong. I want to fix that. At least for my own students.
