The History of the Geometry Curriculum in the United States (PB)

A volume in Research in Mathematics Education
Series Editor Barbara J. Dougherty, University of Mississippi
This volume investigates the evolution of the geometry curriculum in the United States
over the past 150 years. A primary goal is to increase awareness of the nature of the current
geometry curriculum by investigating the historical, mathematical and pedagogical
influences that it has sustained since its inception.
Given the limited access to first-hand accounts of the enacted geometry curriculum during
the past 150 years, the book relies on textbooks to provide a record of the implemented
curriculum at any given point in time and on policy documents and journal
articles to provide insight into the prevalent issues and arguments of the day.
The book is organized in a chronological sequence of "notable events" leading to discernable changes in thinking about the
geometry curriculum over the past century and a half-roughly the extent of time during which geometry has been taught
in American schools. Notable events include important reports or commissions, influential texts, new schools of thought,
and developments in learning technologies. These events affected, among other things: content and aims of the geometry
curriculum; the nature of mathematical activity as construed by both mathematicians and mathematics educators; and, the
resources students are given for engaging in mathematical activity. Before embarking through the notable events, it is necessary
to consider the "big bang" of geometry, namely the moment in time that
shaped the future life of the geometry curriculum. This corresponds to the emergence
of Euclidean geometry. Given its influence on the shape of the geometry curriculum,
familiarity with the nature of the geometry articulated in Euclid's Elements is essential
to understanding the many tensions that surround the school geometry curriculum.
Several themes emerge over the course of the monograph, and include: the aims
and means of the geometry curriculum, the importance of proof in geometry, the role
of visualization and tactile experiences, the fusion between solid and plane geometry,
the curricular connections between geometry and algebra, and the use of motion
and continuity.
The intended audience would include curriculum developers, researchers, teachers,
and curriculum supervisors.