TAC at Another Bedrock of Education
We always hear from our graduates that "TAC is everywhere". Well, they are right. This time, TAC manifested itself in the company of Ali Nesin. The visit to the Mathematics Village in Şirince on October 9-11 was well attended by TAC's grade 10 and 11 students. During the three days that they spent in Şirince, students expanded their mathematical thinking, abstraction, deduction, estimation, modelling and planning skills, which will be useful for them at school, and in their professional lives in the future. Included in their itinerary were walking in the ancient streets of Ephesus, drinking Turkish coffee in sand in Şirince, and expressed their gratitude at the House of Virgin Mary.
What, the Nobel Prize?
During the three days in the village, TAC students, thanks to their leadership skills and sociable personalities, were able to attract the interest of Klaus Von Klitzing, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1985 with his discovery of "Integer Quantum Hall Effect". The formula of “RK = h / e2 = 25812.807449(86)Ω” aka "Von Klitzing Constant" is widely recognized in the world and in many universities there are lectures dedicated to this formula. He was humble enough to respond to every question about this highly prestigious international recognition with "It happened many many years ago. I made the discovery not to receive an award, but to satisfy my own curiosity".
Problems. And Then Some More
For a student, each course is a gateway to the many secrets hidden in universe. However, none of these paths have an obvious course and the end: what human being do is to be curious and proceed in the path. Although they may not reach the end of the journey, the process itself if full of discoveries of the facts which they have never imagined. This life lesson was just a small part of what our students learned from Ali Nesin. In the first day of the class in the village, Ali Nesin said "problems are endless. Once you have managed to solve one, you encounter another one". This is definitely true! And of course, we should look beyon what is said to the functions it served: one of such functions was clearly to prepare students to the deep waters of abstract mathematics. In the classes with Ali Nesin, students were exposed to abstract mathematics for the first time, and as can be expected, struggled with it at first. However it did not take long for them to understand that mathematics can turn into a practical and fun tool which they can use in every aspect of their lives, beyond the confines of the classroom. And indeed, they worked day and night to solve the problems assigned by Ali Nesin as homework. At the end of these tiring and inteelctually engaging three days, our students were still able to ask "whether there were more mathematical questions", the only response to which can well be "Of course there is! After all, isn't life itfself a problem founded on mathematics?"