Author Description

This book shows how geometry can be learned by starting with real world problems which are solved by intuition, common sense reasoning and experiments. Gradually the more formal demands of mathematical proofs get their proper place and make it possible to explore new applications. This process helps students to feel the need for precise definitions and procedures, to contribute to the construction of an axiomatic system, and to experience the power of systematic reasoning. The course is designed for students in a Nature & Technology strand which prepares for studying the sciences or technology at university level. Its goal was basically to reintroduce ‘proof’ in a meaningful way in the late 1990s Dutch secondary education curriculum. Following the educational view of the Freudenthal Institute this is not done by stating Euclid’s axioms on page one, but rather a starting point is chosen in students’ intuitions and tentative solutions of problems that are experienced as real and relevant. The photograph on the cover shows students exploring one of the problems from the midpart of the course in the computerlab.