This is a proposal to create an interdisciplinary course in geometry and design. The primary objective of the project is to address a major challenge in mathematics education for undergraduates by creating a course, innovative in content and structure, that will demonstrate the links between artistic creativity and the logical processes of mathematics to art and design majors. The course will use geometrical ideas as the organizing force which links scientific, artistic, and cultural subject areas. The course will expose students to new processes of reasoning and make them aware of the possibilities that can arise through radical thinking and risk taking; and it will bridge the apparent gap between the realm of art and design and that of mathematics. The process of awakening students to their creative potential by allowing them to work with unfamiliar reasoning processes will widen their horizons and give them skills in new areas. Students will have the opportunity to test out the effectiveness of the concepts they have developed and bear witness to the reaction of a public-at-large to their experimental efforts. The materials developed for this course will be tested at several sites in courses for liberal arts majors as well as for students of art and design. An advisory board will also assist in evaluation of the materials.
