Geometry Project - Presenting Mathematics: SK Day


Sonya Kovalevsky was a Russian Mathematician in the late 1800's, and a pioneer for women in mathematics. She was the first woman to earn a doctorate in mathematics, the first woman to become Professor, and the first woman to serve on the editorial board of a scientific journal. Her research in Partial Differential Equations was ground breaking and still important in modern mathematics. In her honor, colleges and universities across the country host "Sonya Kovalevsky Day" outreach events to expose young women to advanced mathematics and encourage them to pursue mathematics as a component of their education.

The goal of this project is to host a mock Sonya Kovalevsky Day in our class. Geometry is a great topic for math outreach because it is both accessible and intriguing. In this project you should think of a topic from geometry that you have found captivating, and create a short activity to introduce the topic to a novice. Your topic may be directly taken from something we covered in class or can be expanded upon from topics covered in class. You are encouraged to use some outside research to be prepared to answer questions about your topic.

Guidelines:

1. Each activity should take a student 10-15 minutes to complete.
2. The activities should be focused on interaction (they are activities, not lectures).
3. Each activity should teach a different interesting property or concept from Modern Geometry.
4. Presenters should be well versed in the property or concept that they are preparing and understand its place in Geometry well enough to answer diverse questions from the students.
5. Activities should not require prior knowledge of Geometry. They must be accessible to a typical middle school student.

These activities will be presented simultaneously as stations. I hope to invite some visitors to our class to participate in the activities. You should work in groups of 2 or 3. Visitors can progress around the room as they choose, so each activity should be novel and independent of the others.

Grades:

Grades will be assigned as a group. Your grade will be focused on how well you were able to communicate a complex mathematical idea in an accessible and interesting way. Your activity should show creativity as well as a deep understanding of your topic. I will assign a grade for up to 15 points. I will ask you to self-evaluate and to evaluate your classmates work (both in your group and other groups). An additional 5 points will be assigned based on the average of the scores from the student grades.

Timeline:

Presentations will occur during class time on Dec. 7. Some portion of class time will be available for you to meet with your group, work on your project, and ask questions related to your project during the week of Nov 26-30. You should be prepared with a topic and initial research by this point so that you use this time productively.

Materials:

Please let me know if you need any resources for your activity. Some basic office supplies and other resources (within reason) can be supplied by the math department.