The Case for Chaos
Crayton W. Bedford · Mathematics Teacher Learning and Teaching PK-12 · 1998
Chaos theory and fractal geometry have begun to appear as separate units in the mathematics curriculum of many high schools. Many more, however, have found these units appealing but impossible to squeeze into an already packed program. Yet a number of students at these same schools complete a precalculus sequence before the end of their senior year and find themselves, for one reason or another, not ready to go right on to the calculus. Typically, schools offer such students semester courses in probability, statistics, discrete mathematics or computer programming. In this article, I make a case for expanding this offering to include a semester of chaos theory that pulls together all those appealing units that may be scattered through the curriculum. After a brief overview of chaos theory and fractal geometry, I outline eight units that could constitute such a course and include a list of useful resources. For a number of years, I have taught a course based on this outline to precalculus students whose enthusiastic response is the motivation for this article.