math history assignments see attachment

CHILD DEVELOPMENT

(essay)

Beginning with Chapter 6 in your text and after visiting the links below, write an essay (3-5 pages of writing + a reference page) on the interrelatedness of infants’ temperament, attachment, and parental behavior that sets the tone for socioemotional well-being throughout childhood.

Caregiver and Child Influences on Attachment: http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/En/News/Series/Attachment/Pages/Attachment-Part-Four-Parent-and-child-influences-on-attachment.aspx

Infant Attachment: http://aspe.hhs.gov/daltcp/reports/inatrpt.htm

Dr. Jerome Kagan’s Infant Temperament YouTube video: http://youtu.be/CGjO1KwltOw

(discussion)

The central nervous system (CNS), consisting of the brain and the spinal cord, is the division of the nervous system that processes information and directs behavior. Genetically predetermined brain development makes possible new behaviors, which lead to new interactions with the environment that then influence brain development.

Using the text (Chapter 4) and the links provided to apply to your response, discuss what you found most interesting about brain development and the CNS during infancy.

The Whole Brain Atlas: http://www.med.harvard.edu/AANLIB/home.html

Children and Brain Development: http://umaine.edu/publications/4356e/

HISTORY (The Cold War/Suburbanization and the "Sixties")

Assignment: Getting Familiar with Your Period: On the Lookout for Happiness (Weeks 4-5)

Background Reading

At this point, you have your assigned chronological period. Now you will have two weeks to do what we are thinking about as “background reading.” In this reading you should be familiarizing yourself with some of the general contours of your historical period, as well as thinking about your own particular interests. That is, you should be learning about basic dates, events, personalities, themes, and problems. You should be considering politics, economics, as well as social and cultural life.

Your background reading will involve so-called secondary sources in preparation for your later work with primary sources.

There is no expectation that for this study you are going to be looking at bundles and bundles of background material, and that you need to become an “expert” in your period. At this point, you’re not even expected to look at primary documents, but of course, we expect that this work will prepare you for the next assignment involving looking for relevant primary materials.

Please keep track of the materials you are finding and using and develop a bibliography of sources that you consult. (You will post this.)

You should also keep notes as a way to organize what you are learning about your historical period from these sources. Also keep track in your notes of your own particular interests in and questions about what you see emerging.

Signs of Happiness

As you are gaining more understanding of your period as a whole, you should also begin to be on the lookout for “signs” of happiness. That is, you should be asking yourself: Is the topic of happiness or well-being emerging anywhere in my period, explicitly or implicitly?

For example, do you see signs of happiness in a political platform? In certain people's lives? In a social movement? In economic or social changes that are taking place? Anywhere else?)

But once again, here is something very important: Please remember that there is no “right” or “wrong” place to look!

What to Turn In

By the close of week 5, you should post the bibliography of resources that you have used to gain a background/overview of your period. Your bibliography should have at least five different sources. (This does not mean that you will have read five books! It means that you should have consulted at least 5 different sources.)

Please use the following format for print sources: Author. Date. Title (in italics). City. Publisher. Pages you looked at, as follows:

Jones, Andrew. 1999. Thinking about American History. Boston: Ambrose Publishers.

For web sources, include the URL and the date retrieved such as follows:

Matthews. Zena. The 60s in Perspective. Date written. Retrieved on June 6, 1980.

For each source, you should also include one or two sentences describing why you have chosen this particular source. What does it contain that you think will be useful to your work?

Though you will have also taken notes on your historical period, you do not need to turn these in. Rather, they will be useful for you to consult as you later work on your primary sources in historical context.

Math History

(discussion)

Discuss the concept of zero in the context of the cultures written about in Crest of the Peacock.

What is important about the concept of zero beyond its use as a place holder?

What is the significance of using a particular symbol to represent an absence of quantity?

What role does zero play as a mathematical concept and how did it fit within the cultures as it was first understood?

What challenges were faced by cultures that did not have a zero in their number system and how were these challenges addressed?

Remember that zero was separately realized in different ways by various cultures.

short essay

Joseph points out that well into the 20th century, math historians wrote as if real mathematics began with the ancient Greeks with minor contributions from non-Europeans, all culminating in a universal, superior mathematics developed in Europe and a few major colonial outposts. More recently math historians have recognized the non-European roots of mathematics but rarely acknowledge any current cultural influences on mathematical ideas. Ethnomathematicians argue that the kind of mathematics that develops, even the questions that are asked, depends on the culture in which the ideas grow.

Please address the following questions in your essay:

Why is "Western" mathematics so dominant today? or is it?

After reading the selections about number systems and arithmetic in Egypt, Mesopotamia, India and the Islamic area, what similarities do you find in their development? What differences? What most surprised you about the development of number systems in these regions?

Remember to support your claims and opinions with properly cited references.