What is the “geography” of school mathematics –– number; measurement; algebra; geometry; trigonometry; probability; pre-calculus; calculus? Are these separate islands? Or, are they connected lands, the approach to the large continent of disciplinary mathematics? I fear that many students experience only the former. While I favor the latter, I appreciate the difficulty of providing an accessible opportunity to experience the wide sweep of this latter unifying perspective. I will report on my effort to provide such an opportunity. But accessible to whom?

Bio: Hyman Bass is the Samuel Eilenberg Distinguished University Professor of Mathematics and Mathematics Education at the University of Michigan. He came to Michigan from Columbia University in 1999. He has held many visiting appointments, extensively in India and in France. His mathematical work is in algebra, with connections to algebraic geometry, number theory, topology, and geometric group theory. His educational interests, much of it in collaboration with Deborah Ball, include mathematical knowledge for teaching, task design, mathematical practices, “connection-oriented mathematical thinking,” and social justice.

Dr. Bass is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the (Third) World Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Education. He is past president of the American Mathematical Society and of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction. He received the U. S. National Medal of Science in 2007.