In this episode, I describe some activities on the history of geometry. Geogebra is first used to visualize a primary source from Descartes, and then to create the conchoide of Nicomedes. In the last part the so-called human conchoid is described, a form of embodied cognition to let your students get a grasp of the famous curve.
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Academic libraries collect process and preserve and provide access to unique collections insupport of teaching, learning and research. Digitisation of local history collections has beenundertaken as a way to preserving fragile materials and promoting access. On the other hadsocial networking tools provide new ways of providing access to various collections to awider audience. The purpose of the study was to explore how local history collections arepromoted using social media in Uganda. An environmental scan of cultural heritageinstitutions in Uganda with a social media initiative was conducted. A case study of HistoryIn Progress Uganda project is reported in the paper. The project is chosen based on the levelof activity and ability to provide different approaches and practices in using social mediaplatforms. Findings revealed varying levels of activity. Nevertheless, there still existchallenges of promoting access to local history collections. The paper offers insights into thenature and scope of activity in promoting local history collections in Uganda.
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It is a challenge for mathematics teachers to provide activities for their students at a high level of cognitive demand. In this article, we explore the possibilities that history of mathematics has to offer to meet this challenge. History of mathematics can be applied in mathematics education in different ways. We offer a framework for describing the appearances of history of mathematics in curriculum materials. This framework consists of four formats that are entitled speck, stamp, snippet, and story. Characteristic properties are named for each format, in terms of size, content, location, and function. The formats are related to four ascending levels of cognitive demand. We describe how these formats, together with design principles that are also derived from the history of mathematics, can be used to raise the cognitive level of existing tasks and design new tasks. The combination of formats, cognitive demand levels, and design principles is called the 4S-model. Finally, we advocate that this 4S-model can play a role in mathematics teacher training to enable prospective teachers to reach higher cognitive levels in their mathematics classrooms.
