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The effect of a traditional secondary school geometry course on problem-solving ability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2016

Phillip E. Johnson  and
Billie Ranson
Phillip E. Johnson
Affiliation:
Written whilst at Kingston Polytechnic. Now based at: Department of Mathematics, University of North Carolina, Charlotte, NC 28223, U.S.A.
Billie Ranson
Affiliation:
Northeast Junior High School, Charlotte, NC 28212, U.S.A.
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Extract

At one time Latin was considered such an essential part of the school curriculum that everyone was required to study it. If justification were needed for the requirement, the argument would likely be given that the study of Latin “trained the mind”. Is secondary school geometry in the same category that Latin formerly was, or are there legitimate reasons for requiring that geometry be studied by most secondary school students? Perhaps one reason for studying geometry is that it improves problem-solving ability in general.

The specific proposition that geometry improves problem-solving ability would seem to be subject to experimental verification, if indeed the study of geometry does improve problem-solving ability. The evidence herein seems to indicate that the kind of reasoning used in studying geometry improves the ability to solve not only geometric problems but other types of problems as well.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Mathematical Gazette , Volume 74 , Issue 468 , June 1990 , pp. 114 - 120
Copyright
Copyright © The Mathematical Association 1990

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