How to Contribute

Contributions of all kinds are welcomed by the Design Group. You are welcome to send material by email to Bill Barton or to any other member of the Group.

At this time we are soliciting in particular Klein Vignettes and comments on the Book Structure. We expect to have four Model Vignettes mounted on this site by the end of July at the latest.

Klein Vignette Criteria

• Type 1: Trajectories connecting school mathematics with advanced and recent aspects of the field of mathematics.

• Type 2: Explanations of modern significant applications

Both types should start with an Inspiring Example or Problem that connects to the culture of the school teacher (either the mathematics they know or teach, or some familiar aspect of the world). The material from the field of mathematics should show teachers something beyond what they know (even if it may not be at the boundary of mathematics).

Type 1 will need to have “transitional objects” or a “chain of linkages” that take the teachers to the edge of the ocean so they can see the horizon-—or sail a little way towards it.

Both types need to have in mind the reader listening and asking “Why is this important?”, and the answer should be scientifically deep. It must tell something about mathematics, or about the role of mathematics inside science and technology, or about how mathematics develops in general terms. It should have a mathematical moral (which needs to be explicitly stated). It should go inside the mathematics and not just tell us that there is mathematics hidden inside that topic.

The vignettes need to be written in the awareness of the role of technology without allowing it to dictate the content. All vignettes should be short and focused, most of them having 5-6 pages, at the maximum 10 pages. Vignettes should be written in a self-contained way, even if hierarchies of papers pushing the topic further are also encouraged. Attention should be put on providing references, especially those that take the topic further, and related websites would either give more information on the topic or provide teacher resources.