IV.7    Is there a course in the history of mathematics at your school?

Yes.

For your sake, hopefully the answer to this question is "yes".

If you have taught the course recently, then what you need to do is to think hard about how the course can be improved.

If you have not taught the course before (or not at the school where you are) then you need to find out who has taught it previously, who has taught it most recently. You should use these individuals as resources. Ask them for information about the course.

• What textbook was used? How much of it was covered? How successful was it with the students at your school? What are the books strong points? Weak points? How did the student like it?
• Please give me a copy of your syllabus. If you were to teach the course again, how would you change the syllabus?
• Please give me a copy of the exams you gave. Were they at the right level? What would you keep/change about them?

Now that you have gathered all the information you can about the history of the course, you need to prepare your own course.

No.

If, sadly, the answer to our opening question is "no", then you are in for a lot of extra work.

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If you have comments, send email to V. Frederick Rickey at fred-rickey@usma.edu .
First posted December 2008.