MATH 1030-02: Math for the Liberal Arts (Knudsen) Fall 2023

If you are interested in studying some aspect of K-12 mathematics textbooks dating from the late 1700s to the late 1900s, this is the project for you!  There are many options for you to consider, including but not limited to:

• ​Analyzing how images were used 
• Examining similarities and differences between how girls and boys were taught mathematics 
• Exploring how gender was portrayed in the exercises and examples in the books
• Comparing and contrasting how a particular math subject was taught over a period of time
• Examining what notation was used during different time periods
• Analyzing introductions and prefaces of a particular subject

While he was teaching at Oneonta Normal School, Arthur Curtis authored a number of mathematics-related pamphlets.  If you are interested in learning more about Curtis and how he taught his students to teach mathematics to their own students at the K-12 level, then this project is for you!   

Additionally, Curtis kept a diary from 1910-1913.  If you are interested in learning more about his life through his diaries, then this project is for you!  All diaries have been scanned and can be shared electronically.

Dr. Vera Sanford, hired by the Oneonta Normal School to replace Arthur Curtis after his retirement in 1933, was instrumental in raising the scholarly reputation of our College.  In addition to chairing and growing the Mathematics Department, she had a plethora of publications and many impressive accomplishments.  If you are interested in learning more about her life and the difference she made to our College and to the profession, this is the project for you!

Student teaching has been part of the SUNY Oneonta's history since its very beginning in 1889 as the Oneonta Normal School.  As pat of the process, student teachers were observed, and records were kept of such observations.  The Archives holds about a dozen of these observation books covering 1896-7 as well as 1902-1915.  If you are interested in seeing how student teachers were analyzed, then this is the project for you!  There are a number of options for this topic, including but not limited to:

• Making a map that depicts where students were from for a particular year
• Locating yearbook photos and other information about the students from a particular year
• Discerning the types of skills and qualities that were commented on during student teaching observations

There are a variety of possibilities with this one!  Below are some of the resources available:

Below is the 1952 Women's Glee Club taken from the yearbook.Below is the Women's Glee Club from the 1952 yearbook.

Below is an 1896 article from the student newspaper, the Oneontan, about the Glee Club.