A historical teaching module on ‘the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics’: Boolean algebra and Shannon circuits

Abstract

This article describes the design and implementation of a historical teaching module, where Danish upper secondary students studied primary source material from the mathematicians R W Hamming, G Boole and C E Shannon. The module is an example of a so-called HAPh-module, which focuses on elements of the history, application and philosophy of mathematics. A previous version was presented at the History and Pedagogy of Mathematics (HPM) meeting in Deajeon, Korea in 2012.

Notes

¹ NMSU is New Mexico State University. The group’s teaching materials based on original sources may be found at: http://www.math.nmsu.edu/hist_projects/ and http://www.cs.nmsu.edu/historical-projects/ (Retrieved on February 15, 2012). In particular the projects by Janet Heine Barnett (2011a, 2011b) have served as a source of inspiration for the HAPh-module discussed in this paper.

² The two teaching materials may be found as texts 486 and 487 at http://milne.ruc.dk/ImfufaTekster/

³ All excerpts from student group’s written work or interviews have been translated from Danish.

⁴ HPM is International Study Group on the relations between History and Pedagogy of Mathematics – an affiliate of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI).