Utilizing Quantitative Elements in Courses on the Ancient World: An Overview

FORUM UTILIZING QUANTITATIVE ELEMENTS INCOURSES ON THE ANCIENT WORLD: AN OVERVIEW At the CAMWS Southern Section meeting held in November 2006 inMemphis, Tennessee, the "Classics across the Curriculum" panel explored ways of connecting Classics with other disciplines in the classroom. Three papers from the panel considered the intersec tion of Classics with mathematics and science. Audience reaction indicated a growing need at many schools and colleges for ideas on how to insert quantitative elements into Classics courses, prompted by either amultidisciplinary approach to education or greater institu tional emphasis on quantitative reasoning and quantitative literacy. Researchers such as Barnett and Ceci argue that transfer of learning ismost likely if the quantitative concepts taught in one discipline are related to quantitative applications in other disciplines.1 As a result, the following institutions, among others, have implemented quanti tative aspects into traditionally non-quantitative courses: Hollins University (Ancient Art), Farmingdale State University ofNew York (Linguistics), Lawrence University (Anthropology) and University of Nevada - Reno (Art).2 With these thoughts inmind, the presenters of the CAMWS-SS papers that focused on the connection of Classics tomathematics and science offer theirwork here to awider audience. "Lessons forClassics from theHistory ofMathematics" shows how famous mathematical problems from the Greek world can be incorporated into classical civilization courses, and how mathematical treatises and anagrams composed in Latin during the Renaissance can be introduced into Latin classes. "The Beauty ofMeasure and theMeasure of Beauty" and "Quantitative Reasoning and Scientific Analysis in the Ancient Art Classroom" explore how themathematics and numbers present in ancient art and architecture can be included in surveys of ancient art. The last paper also offers examples of how students can be intro duced to the application of science in understanding ancient archae ological finds.3 LlANE houghtalin and Suzanne Sumner University of Mary Washington 1 See Susan M. Barnett and Stephen J.Ceci, "When and Where Do We Apply What We Learn? A Taxonomy for Far Transfer," Psychological Bulletin 128 (2002): 612-37. 2 See Rick Gillman, ed., Current Practices inQuantitative Literacy (Washington, DC, 2006)41-79. 3 Classroom support materials related to these papers, including syllabuses, bib liographies and worksheets, are posted at http://classicaljournal.org/forum.php under Forum Articles. THE CLASSICAL JOURNAL104.4 (2009)329 ...