Course Reflection

 Its December already! Time flies, and another term has past. For a lot of people, including me, this course began as just another course to take in the program. Granted, it was related to math so I thought it would be less boring. As we met weekly and discussed various interesting methods and stories about mathematics in the past, this class quickly became the most interesting class of the semester. I love how we explored so many different ideas from the past that have been buried under the Eurocentric view of the world. It is easy to believe that just about anything is created somewhere in North American or Europe. Big names like Edison, Newton, Gauss, and they are all very white. It is not a surprise that the richest countries in the world at various times were also the centre of research, discovery, and innovations. The presentations, readings, and reflections that the class has asked me to do prompted me to think about how math fits in our society. The presentations and stories made me realize that as opposed to how we are simply fed math, formulas and shapes, math is discovered, often independently in various times because they exist. People tried to describe them in an elegant and unambiguous way that gets passed along to what we know as mathematics. People did a lot with very little. They took estimates of the circumference of Earth, the distance between the Earth and the Sun, and the number pi accurate to many decimals. I think I would definitely incorporate this into my future teaching, and I have a very long and elaborate answer whenever someone comes around and asks "But why do we even study math? Is it even real? Why should I care?".

Going from simply math is needed because it is taught in the curriculum, because they are needed for post secondary or some specific jobs, to the idea that math is no different than biology or physics; it exists and we try to observe, understand, and describe. It has been studied and thought of, and we continue to do so. I want to encourage future students to do so, to think about these things and get into the process of creating, something that might not be very well rewarded for doing. The people in the past have done so quite a lot, so why can't we? Math is not something that is made up and taught because people decided it should, and I hope that I will do my best job to convey that to future students.

Lastly, I want to thank Susan and Amanda for this amazing course! It is a difficult time to stay home and run the course in this online format like never before. I feel engaged and that I am taking part in the lesson. One suggestion is that breakout room timing might be a little too short/long at times, and I think that is tricky for all online courses. It's not exactly like a classroom where the instructor can see groups chatting or clearly confused or awkward silence between group members, and coming around in zoom does feel a little different. I have been a teaching assistant for some undergrad courses and now with online labs and invigilating it does feel a little awkward to poke around the rooms.

Have a exciting and safe holiday everyone!