Primary Historical Sources in the Classroom: Discrete Mathematics and Computer Science

Teaching with Primary Historical Sources: Should it Go Mainstream? Can it?

“…We hope also that a useful statistical evaluation of the e¤ects of our historical projects will emerge from the nature and scope of this endeavor. Details of our 20-30 student projects based on primary sources, some completed, tested, and published, some yet to be written, are available in a resource book [1] and at our web sites [2,3]. Below I will use one of these projects to illustrate how I believe primary sources can be central to the curriculum.…”

“…But student projects are also playing a more substantial role in teaching these days, so projects based on primary sources can complement or even supplant portions of a standard textbook, and thus play an intermediate role as stepping stones in the direction I am advocating. This is the approach I am currently working on, as mentioned earlier [1,2,3]. In fact, a course could be built entirely on a sequence of projects based on primary sources, and I am thinking in that direction.…”

“…I have combined all these core topics in a three week class project [1] centered on Blaise Pascal's Treatise on the Arithmetical Triangle [7], from which I present here some selected excerpts and discussion. Pascal's treatise expounds the principle of mathematical induction, and his triangle leads into combinatorics.…”

Designing Student Projects for Teaching and Learning Discrete Mathematics and Computer Science via Primary Historical Sources

“…These projects have appeared in print (Barnett et al 2009), and are presently available through the web resource (Bezhanishvili et al 2003).…”

“…The expansion will support classroom testing by faculty at twenty other institutions, careful evaluation of their e¤ectiveness, and provide training in teaching with these projects to graduate students. Projects created to date under the expansion grant are available at our new web resource (Barnett et al 2008), along with descriptions of projects yet to be developed. We welcome instructors who would like to collaborate in testing or writing projects.…”