Volume: 54; 2018; 303 pp; Softcover
MSC: Primary 97; 00; 26;
Print ISBN: 978-1-4704-4351-1
Product Code: CLRM/54
List Price: $45.00
AMS Member Price: $33.75
MAA Member Price: $33.75
Electronic ISBN: 978-1-4704-4801-1
Product Code: CLRM/54.E
List Price: $45.00
AMS Member Price: $33.75
MAA Member Price: $33.75
Supplemental Materials
Tactile Learning Activities in Mathematics: A Recipe Book for the Undergraduate Classroom
Share this pageJulie Barnes; Jessica M. Libertini
MAA Press: An Imprint of the American Mathematical Society
Q: What do feather boas, cookies, and paper shredders have in common?
A: They are all ingredients that have the potential to help your
undergraduate students understand a variety of mathematical concepts.
In this book, 43 faculty from a wide range of institutional settings
share a total of 64 hands-on activities that allow students to
physically engage with mathematical ideas ranging from the basics of
precalculus to special topics appropriate for upper-level courses.
Each learning activity is presented in an easy-to-read recipe format
that includes a list of supplies; a narrative briefly describing the
reasons, logistics, and helpful hints for running the activity; and a
page that can be used as a handout in class. Purchase of the book
also includes access to electronic printable versions of the handouts.
With so many activities, it might be hard to decide where to start.
For that reason, there are four indices to help the reader navigate
this book: a concept index, a course index, an author index, and a
main ingredient index. In addition to providing activities for
precalculus, calculus, commonly required mathematics courses for
majors, and more specialized upper-level electives, there is also a
section describing how to modify many of the activities to fit into a
liberal arts mathematics class.
Whether you are new to using hands-on
activities in class or are more experienced, the authors hope that
this book will encourage and inspire you to explore the possibilities
of using more hands-on activities in your classes.
Bon appétit!
Readership
Undergraduate students and teachers interested in introducing active pedagogy.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Tactile Learning Activities in Mathematics: A Recipe Book for the Undergraduate Classroom
- Cover Cover11
- Acknowledgments ix10
- Preface xi12
- How to Use This Book xv16
- I Appetizers (Before Calculus) 124
- Precalculus 326
- Using Parentheses with the Game of Telephone 528
- Function Ball Toss 1033
- Mathematical Modeling Using Long-Exposure Photography 1437
- Function Composition Using Crackers and Cheese 1841
- Walking Function Transformations 2245
- Graphing Piecewise Functions with Feather Boas 2750
- Trigonometry Parameter Comparisons 3154
- II Main Courses (Calculus) 3962
- Differential Calculus 4164
- Adding Movement to Velocity Explorations with Ziplines 4366
- Creating Limit Windows with Index Cards 4871
- Extreme Values with Pipe Cleaners 5174
- Graphing Puzzles Using the First and Second Derivatives 5477
- Graphing Functions from Derivative Information Using Bendable Sticks 5881
- Spread the Word: Modeling Logistic Growth 6285
- Maximizing the Area of a Fenced in Region Using Bendable Sticks for Constraints 6790
- The Optimal Origami Box 7093
- Integral Calculus 7598
- Chewing Gum Riemann Sums 77100
- Paper Shredder Riemann Sums or Cut the Bunny 81104
- Estimating Calories in a Cookie with Riemann Sums 85108
- So Many Integration Techniques... Which to Use? 89112
- Centers of Mass of Candy Point Masses on a Plane 93116
- Volume Estimations with Fruit Cross Sections 97120
- Fun with Infinite Series 101124
- Multivariable Calculus 109132
- Physically Creating Three Dimensional Graphs 110133
- Building Functions of Two Variables with Cookies 115138
- Exploring Contours in the Physical World 120143
- Matching Photographs with Contour Lines 124147
- The Gold Mine: Tangent Plane Approximation Using Tangible Surfaces 128151
- Visualizing Second Order Partials on a Football 132155
- Partials, Gradients, and Lagrange Multipliers on a Pringles® Chip 136159
- Volume Estimation Using a Sheet Surface 140163
- Visualizing and Estimating the Mass of a Solid Using Multi-Colored Blocks 143166
- Using a Jack to Visualize the Right Hand Rule for Cross Products 148171
- Properties of Flux Using an Overhead Projector 151174
- Vector Analysis of a Pop-Up Page 155178
- III Desserts (Upper Level Courses) 161184
- Sophomore / Junior Courses 163186
- Crowdsourcing to Create Slope Fields 165188
- Who's in My Differential Equations Club? 169192
- Population Modeling Using M&M's® 173196
- Modeling of Fishing and Restocking with Pennies 178201
- Modeling a Falling Column of Water 183206
- Using Linear Algebra Definitions to Find Your Team 187210
- Picturing Prime Factorization 190213
- Traffic Jam: A Lifesize Logic Puzzle 194217
- Living De Morgan's Laws 198221
- Using Circuits to Teach Truth Tables 202225
- Determining the Validity of an Argument Using True/False Cards 207230
- Proof Rearrangements 211234
- Properties of Functions on Finite Sets Using Candy 215238
- SET® in Combinatorics/Discrete Math 219242
- Human-Powered Computing 224247
- Junior / Senior Courses 229252
- Using Candy to Represent Equivalence Relations 231254
- Finding the GCD: Euclidean Disc Toss 235258
- Symmetry and Group Theory with Plastic Triangles 240263
- Finding Groups in a (New) Color Cube Puzzle 245268
- Acting Permutations 250273
- Nametags and Derangements: A Class Permutation 254277
- Discovering Catalan Numbers Using M&M's® 258281
- Walking the Seven Bridges of Königsberg 262285
- Designing Round-Robin Tournaments Using Yarn 266289
- Constructing Disjoint Hamiltonian Cycles of Complete Graphs Using Yarn 272295
- Exploring the -N Definition of Sequence Convergence with Yarn 277300
- Exploring the - Definition of Continuity 281304
- Walking Complex Functions 285308
- Graphing Complex Functions with Feather Boas 289312
- Exploring Knots 293316
- Indexes 297320
- Back Cover Back Cover1327