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[http://www.ms.lt Minciu Sodas] is an online laboratory for serving and organizing independent thinkers.
[http://www.ms.lt Minciu Sodas] is an online laboratory for serving and organizing independent thinkers.
Andrius Kulikauskas is founder and Direktorius. He has a Ph.D. in mathematics and (as of December 2008) is teaching algebra at [http://www.aubih.ba American University in Bosnia and Herzegovina].
Edward Cherlin leads the [http://groups.yahoo.com/group/earthtreasury Earth Treasury] working group at Minciu Sodas.
[http://groups.yahoo.com/group/earthtreasury/message/161 Andrius's letter to Edward, December 16, 2008]
Edward,
Yes! Please add my interest, and that of our Minciu Sodas laboratory
http://www.ms.lt, to participate in your textbook project. I would gladly
work for you or others to write open source textbooks in math, philosophy,
fighting peacefully or other subjects. I alert others at our lab who
might like to write textbooks.
This semester I've been teaching algebra from my own notes:
http://www.worknets.org/upload/AndriusKulikauskas/precalculus.pdf
which are for teaching math based on the deep ideas behind it. I would
like to write a short book based on that approach. I am thinking to call
it "Classic Math Problems". Each problem would illustrate a particular
idea. I would supplement the text with video and additional materials,
exercises.
So, for example, I tell my students that algebra is the study of "thinking
in steps". And here is a problem that teaches that. Suppose you usually
buy pants in the marketplace because the department store charges
one-third more. But the store is now having a sale, and everything is
one-third off. Where should you buy the pants?
Quite a few people - and sophisticated people - might say that the price
is now the same, for it is one-third off of one-third more. But if you
think through it step by step, then you will see given x, that one-third
more is 4/3 x, and 2/3 of 4/3 x is 8/9 x. So it will be cheaper at the
store with the sale. For the question is "one-third of what?" This one
problem is a good, self-contained point to communicate this idea. It is a
sophisticated problem, but one that you can master. There are many
variants, such as a stock price that goes up 1/3 and down 1/4, or a tax
and a rebate. And if you learn 20 or 30 or 50 problems like that, then
you know all of algebra, or certainly the fundamentals.
Working together I'm sure we'd discover ways to support all manner of
self-teaching approaches and preferences. Myself, I'd like to focus on
self-learning adults (like at our lab) and I'm curious how that compares
with children learning.
I'm also interested in related resources. I've organized my students into
20 teams of 4 or 5 students each. We're collecting quantities (amounts
and units) for a Math Encyclopedia. Each team is working on a dimension
like price, speed, distance, mass.
http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?MathEncyclopedia
My hope is that we'll have 1,000 or 2,000 facts in a few weeks and then
can build from there.
My work and Minciu Sodas's work is in the Public Domain and it would be
great if that might always be an option, if not the default, in your
mission. I wish for a culture centered on ethics rather than law.
Please also know that you can participate at the COMMUNIA meetings in
Europe through our lab. We're a member and we have travel money for our
participants, including from the US. The next meetings are Jan 23 in
Zurich, March in London and June in Turin, Italy. COMMUNIA is, I think,
in need of such projects.
I should learn this week if I'm teaching here next semester.
Edward, Congratulations on your progress! Please keep us posted!