An open day in the metric space

TL;DR

This paper describes a workshop where high school students explored the concept of metric spaces through real-life examples and problem-solving exercises, enhancing their understanding of mathematical distances.

Contribution

It presents an educational approach to teaching metric spaces using interactive, problem-oriented methods tailored for high school students.

Findings

Students gained an intuitive understanding of distance concepts.

Interactive exercises facilitated engagement and comprehension.

The workshop effectively introduced formal metric space definitions.

Abstract

We report on a workshop for grade eleven high school students, which took place in the framework of a university open day. During the workshop the participants first discovered the key properties of the intuitive concept of distance from real life examples. After this preparation, the formal definition of a metric space was introduced and discussed in small groups by means of problem-oriented exercise sessions.