Parents
and teachers should urge their high school to include The Parrot's Theorem by
Denis Guedj in their high school summer reading programs and if possible, into
the secondary math curriculum. The book, through an interesting story and
a survey of the history of mathematics, could help students become more engaged
with a topic that can be hard to access for some people. This book could
help students think more about math through the context of history and make
emotional connections to characters in the story. These connections could
make material taught during the school year more interesting and
meaningful. The book could be used as an introduction to high school math
for rising freshmen, or could be used as an ongoing reference point for
students as they learn about the mathematical topics over their educational
career. Developing mathematical literacy and interest outside of the
traditional classroom setting and through different modes of representation
could prove valuable for students in their high school career and beyond.
The book demonstrates learning in fun and novel settings, and even includes a
number of techniques that can help teachers in their work.
The
book follows a family after the arrival of a mysterious letter from a long lost
friend, and, a few days later, his extensive library of mathematical
texts. The characters explore the library and search for clues to the
origin and meaning of the letter. The Parrot’s Theorem presents this
history in three distinct eras, divided by time period and geographic
area. The three periods given are Ancient Greece 700BC-700AD, the Arab
world from 800-1400AD, and in Western Civilization from 1400- present (p.
49). Within these broad eras, the book explores the work of a number of
mathematicians from each era, as part of a growing continuum of
knowledge. The narrative, linear presentation of the history of math in
The Parrot’s Theorem acts as a survey of math history. The nature of a
historical survey is that topics are covered with less depth than may be
desired, but The Parrot’s Theorem, primarily a novel, does not attempt to portray
all of math’s history. The book can be considered as an introduction to
history rather than an exhaustive source. The narrative structure of the
book does, however, provide some insight on the teaching of math from a
historical viewpoint.
One of the
largest challenges teachers face, especially in mathematics, is student
engagement. Student engagement is demonstrated through excitement,
curiosity and passion for the work students do in the classroom. Engaged
students work harder and excel in their studies. There are many
techniques that can be used to foster student engagement, and specific examples
can be seen within the text of The Parrot’s Theorem, and even more techniques
can be extrapolated from the book. In addition to the teaching styles and
techniques used by the characters in The Parrot’s Theorem, the book itself
could provide students with additional access points and personal connections
to the study of mathematics. Using a blend of history and narrative, the
book could be beneficial for students and teachers if used in a proper context.
The
book can be used as a way to better engage students. Math can present
different challenges for student as compared to other subjects. In the
sciences, students are formally learning about the rules that govern the world
they live in. They understand and can observe different concepts they
learn in biology or chemistry. In history class, students can understand
the connection between their own lives and the subjects they studied.
Often times, they can visit the locations of the important moments of
history. There can be an emotional connection to characters from the
great works studied in an English class. Math can present a challenge for
teachers looking to improve their student’s engagement in class, because at
times, the material can seem disconnected from the lives of students. It
can lack an emotional, personal or observable connection for students, leading
to a disinterested approach in class. In order to forge this type of connection,
The Parrot’s Theorem could be used by teachers as part of their
curriculum. The book presents a mysterious story centered on characters
that are high school aged, and the core of the book concerns the history of
mathematics. In a way, the book uses a story about a mysterious letter
and a library of books as a “Trojan Horse” for teaching some diverse
mathematical concepts. There are a few reasons using this book as part of
a classroom curriculum could be effective. First, for students who excel
at other subjects, but who may do worse in math, this could present a different
method of taking in a lesson on math. Students have a variety of learning
styles, and presenting math in an original way could connect them to material
they had struggled with in the past. The novelty of reading a book about
math and discussing mathematical ideas, rather than another lecture or
worksheet, could really work for students. Additionally, students reading
the book may benefit from the dynamic nature of mathematics presented in the
story. Throughout the book, Mr. Ruche and his students discuss the three
big questions that had stumped mathematicians since ancient Greece: Squaring
the Circle, Duplicating the Cube, and Trisecting an Angle. Mr. Ruche
discusses numerous men and women who tried to solve these problems over the
years. Eventually, we find that these problems cannot be solved
geometrically. While all these mathematicians all eventually failed to
solve these particular problems, each had a different mathematical perspective
that would change how later mathematicians would view the same problems.
Students may emotionally connect with this idea of mathematical tradition and
how even the greatest minds in history, like Pierre de Fermat and Blaise
Pascal, had math problems they could not solve. Students could come to
understand that learning math is a process that includes failure, even for the
most brilliant minds.
As we
see in The Parrot’s Theorem, there are multiple instances of mathematics as a
disruptive force. We see Greeks reject the notion of irrational numbers
and negative numbers, both of which are now common parts of our
education. In the historical portions of the book, we see mathematicians
as dangerous figures, being exiled and jailed. In the plot of the novel,
we see Mr. Grosrouve, who puts himself in mortal danger to both acquire
mathematical texts, and to keep his proofs from being published or
stolen. These examples, where mathematicians may be jailed or worse for
presenting ideas may also connect with students. Defiance and rebellion
are ideas rarely discussed in mathematics, and especially for teenagers,
acknowledgment of these feelings could change the way they approach
mathematics. The book also has its own rebellious spirit. Although
there is little explicit mention of this, the book seems to have a relatively
negative view of modern formal math education. All the lessons Mr. Ruche
gives to his students are outside of a classroom, and instead take place in
either the home library, or a number of public libraries in Paris. The
twins, who are secondary school students, mention their schooling only briefly,
and casually skip a day’s worth of lessons after a late night in the
library. These characters, as well as the defiant mathematical figures
from history, could place the study of mathematics in a different perspective
for students who may find their past math classes to be dry or
dull.
In
addition to the lessons for students, The Parrot's Theorem provides some
lessons for teachers. If we consider Mr. Ruche, the central figure of the
story, to be a teacher, and the family that he lives with his students, we can
see numerous teaching methods employed to improve student engagement.
Doug Lemov’s Teach Like a Champion presents a teaching technique idea
called “The Hook”. Lemov describes a hook as “a short introductory moment
that captures what’s interesting about the material and puts it out front” (p.
75). The hook is used as the first step to get students interested in a
topic. In the Parrot’s Theorem, Mr. Ruche employs a few different hooks
to interest his students. For example, on Page 99, he and the youngest
child, Max, set up the library to feel like the Great Library of Alexandria
using sounds, smells, and props. Mr. Ruche then further sets the scene by
telling the story of how the city came to be the center of the academic world
under Ptolemy. By creating this environment, Mr. Ruche gives a great
example of using a hook in a classroom. He is teaching a lesson on mathematics,
but grabs the attention of his students by transporting them to a different
time and place. We can see that using these techniques, Mr. Ruche has
engaged his students in the material. As the story progresses, the older
siblings, Jonathan and Lea, start taking over the research that Mr. Ruche has
been doing. In a way, this can be seen as scaffolding. Mr. Ruche
first leads the lessons, telling his class what he did to discover the material
for the lesson. As the students became more and more comfortable, Mr. Ruche
allowed the students to take on more of the research and drive the learning,
eventually teaching Mr. Ruche about certain topics.
There would be some challenges presented by including the book as part of a
secondary mathematics course curriculum. The book covers nearly all of
Western mathematical history, and as such presents a problem in classes that
focus exclusively in a given topic, like geometry or calculus. The novel
may cover too much history for a single class to cover. The book could
work better as a culminating project for students who are completing their high
school careers, or as a primer for students just entering high school.
The book could alternatively be used as a form of differentiated
assessment. Rather than demonstrate their knowledge through more
traditional means, like tests and quizzes, students could be given the option
to research a mathematician they find particularly interesting from the
book. Based on the person they select, a teacher could provide an appropriate
mathematical assignment related to the work of their subject. This could
work as a long term assignment, like creating a lesson like Mr. Ruche creates,
or as an anchor activity students would work on throughout the length of a
course. The book could also be used as a reference across a math
department. Some historically minded students may become more interested
and engaged for a lesson when they know where the work falls in time, whether
its geometry from the days of Pythagoras or calculus from Newton’s time.
The Parrot’s Theorem presents a survey of western mathematical knowledge, and
acts as an entry point for further inquiry for more curious learners. The
book presents some alternative teaching techniques, and provides stories and
history to spark the curiosity of students. The book could help both
educators and math students in numerous ways at the high school level.
Whether as a summer reading book, or as part of a curriculum, or even as a
student career long point of reference, the book provides a new and exciting
approach to thinking about math inside and outside of the classroom.
Works
Cited
Guedj,
D. (2000) The Parrot’s Theorem. New York, NY: St. Martin’s Press
Lemov,
D. (2010) Teach like a champion: 49
techniques that put students on the path to college. San Francisco, CA:
Jossey-Bass
