[Maths-Education] For classroom use: "Drawings from Angola:

[pgerdes]

      Successful  children's book now available in English: 
Drawings from  has been replaced here -->Angola:  Living
Mathematics. has been replaced here -->  
 Translated  from Portuguese to English by Dr. Arthur B.
Powell, Professor of Mathematics  Education, Rutgers
University, Newark, NJ, USA
 For children from age 8 to  14.
 “Drawings from Angola” present  an introduction to an
African story telling tradition.  The tales are illustrated
with  marvelous drawings made in the sand.   The book
conveys the stories of the stork and the leopard, the hunter
 and the dog, the rooster and the fox, and others.  It
explains how to execute the  drawings.  The reader is
invited to  draw tortoises, antelopes, lions, and other
animals.  The activities proposed throughout the  book
invite the reader to experiment and to explore the ‘rhythm’
and symmetry of  the illustrations.  Surprising  results
will be playfully obtained, such as in arithmetic, a way to
calculate  quickly the sum of a sequence of odd numbers. 
Children will live the beautiful  mathematics of the Angolan
sand drawings.
 Answers to the activities are  provided.
 The book can be used both in  classrooms and at home.
 For  youngsters from 15 years onwards, Paulus Gerdes wrote
the book “Lusona:  Geometrical Recreations of Africa”
(L’Harmattan, Paris, 1997).  Parents and teachers who like
to know  more about the Cokwe story telling and drawing
tradition, may consult his book  “Sona Geometry from Angola:
Mathematics of an African Tradition” (Polimetrica,  Monza,
2007).
 The  new book "Drawings from Angola" is now available (both
in print  and as download) from http://www.lulu.com  by 
going to  http://stores.lulu.com/pgerdes.   
In a few weeks  time the book (print) will also become
available from amazon.com,  kalahari.net, and other
retailers / bookshops.(ISBN: 978-1-4303-2313-6, 72  pages).
 Paulus  Gerdes
 Research  Centre for Mathematics, Culture and Education
 C.  P. 915
 Maputo
 Mozambique
 pgerdes at virconn.com
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