Blog Response: Marshall Islander's Charts for Navigating


The maps were created by expert sailors using sticks and cowrie shells to record the relationship between land and sea. The two types of Marshall Island stick charts are what I found interesting. The map, a rebbelib, covers all or a significant portion of the Marshall Islands. The other chart of a type known as a Mattang was designed to serve as a training ground for those chosen to serve as navigators. It shows a broad overview of swell movements around small islands.

 

Embodied mathematics is significant in the history of math as ancients found some mathematical concepts through it. The reading shows that they absorbed knowledge from the environment. Specifically, the people of Marshal Island used both their sense of direction and their observation of wave motion to determine the pattern of the swells.

 

Interactions with our environment lead to learning, and we learn through bodily movements. Students use gestures to express what they are thinking, and embodied activities can be used effectively to clarify mathematical ideas. For instance, while learning linear algebra, differential equations, and complex variables, it enables students and teachers to use gesture as a source of evidence.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Blog Response: Arithmetic of the Medieval Universities

      “ The Greeks were concerned with the education of free men as future citizens. Plato, whose plan was a theoretical one probably never put into actual practice but nevertheless reflecting the spirit and ideal of his period, conceived of such education as the sole occupation of the first thirty-five years of a man's life… Only then would a man be equipped to take his rightful place as a useful member of society” (Shrader, 1967, pp. 264) .  This  statement  portrays that how education is taken seriously by Greeks. For me, who has been  going through the  curriculum for nearly 20 years, it is tremendous to focus 35 years on education. At the same time, I fully agree with Plato’s thoughts and opinion on education. While in the curriculum, I personally feel that education is endless, and life is a series of learning.  I would also define a teacher as a lifelong learner. Also, I think that teacher is like an agent of agency that guides ...
Read more

Joseph's "The Crest of the Peacock"

             Joseph’s “The Crest of the Peacock” shows multicultural roots of non-European mathematics and the great impact that the Egyptians and Babylonians had on the Greeks. He also investigates the transfer of mathematical concepts from the East to the West in more detail. The book demonstrates recent research on the history of mathematics in Egypt, Mesopotamia, early Islamic civilizations, China, and India. Throughout the reading, there are three points that surprised me.              Joseph states that the ideology of European superiority, derived from European dominance and expansion in Asia and Africa, is one of the most influential factors that “pushed back the origins of written mathematical records by at least 1500 years.” ( Joseph, 1991, p.4) This surprised me as I have believed that European mathematicians are central in the development of mathematics. I realized again that what ...
Read more

The Eye of Horus

       The Egyptian eye is one of the most recognizable symbols of ancient Egyptian culture. The eye is a common motif in Egyptian art, jewelry, and sculpture, among other cultural artifacts. The eye is referred to be the "all-seeing eye" in Egyptian religion and culture, and it frequently stands both protection and wisdom. Especially, The Eye of Horus is associated with healing and wisdom.      According to the Eye of Horus myth, Horus’s left eye was shattered into six pieces during the fight with his uncle Set over the Egyptian throne, but it is said that Thoth healed his left eye with magical power. Hence, the Eye of Horus now represents the wholeness which I found very interesting.  The six components of the Eye of Horus, which represent the six pieces of Horus's broken eye, were also used as a system of measurement. The most intriguing point of the Eye of Horus is that each of the six pieces represents both a different unit fraction and a h...
Read more