Women in Mathematics  

Project URL: http://www.teachnet-lab.org/mbhs/alee/index.htm

Purpose of the Project: 

The purpose of this project is to introduce students to female mathematicians over the centuries and to acknowledge their contribution to mathematics.  Students are also exposed to social and historical aspects math has in the world.

Standards Addressed:

1. Make a connection between the concepts learned now and the people who discovered them.
2. Promotes equality among the genders.
3. Helps girls realize that math is not “closed” to them.
4. Discover that math is not “dead” and that new discoveries are continually being made.

Teacher Technology Skills:

 Web creation, e-mail

 Student Technology Skills:

Web navigation, creating newsletters with Microsoft Word, creating a newspaper

Software Materials Used:

Microsoft Word or other web editor

Outline Chronology:

Teacher:

1. Find web pages about woman mathematicians and link them to the web page for this project.

2. Create general questions for students to research. 

3. Search for current woman mathematician interested in being interviewed.

4. Use e-mail to keep track of progress of students.

 Students:

1. Go to the Internet sites provided or find their own and look up 5 significant woman mathematicians.

2. Familiarize themselves with women’s contributions to math.

3. Find one woman mathematician to interview. Develop thoughtful questions related to the person’s field as well as some general personal questions (i.e. Who influenced you?)

4. Put all the information into a two-page newsletter to be distributed to classmates.

5. Pick the best articles to include in a newspaper to distribute to the school.  

Angela Lee teaches math at Murry Bergtraum High School in Manhattan.  She is a TeachNet Project mentee.

Email: aql9710@hotmail.com

Subject Area: Math

Grade levels: 9-12