Mathematical sciences (21) The Long Beach Project in Geometry and Symmetry is creating a geometry studio for mathematical pursuits, where students and faculty cooperatively construct, discover, and explore models and structures connected to mathematical ideas and results. A fundamental objective is to encourage students to develop experimental, perceptual, and geometric modes of thinking. The project's intellectual merit is grounded in the unifying influence that geometry and symmetry have within mathematics, in addition to serving as conceptual bridges from mathematics to other fields of study, including physics, chemistry, biology, and art. Within the geometry studio students realize the connections of these fields to mathematics and experience mathematics as a way of thinking. The project is having broad impact by influencing the mathematical education of large number of students who are preparing for careers in K-12 teaching and gaining experience of mathematics as an experimental and perceptual endeavor. Additionally, the workshops provide practicing teachers with a taste of that experience and resources for carrying the approach to their current classes.
