Mathematics and Biology

7 Preface Ahmed DJEBBAR Introduction by Benaouda BENNACEUR 9 In French 7 In Arabic 17 Tools of Justification and Methods of Resolution in Arabic Mathematics Ahmed DJEBBAR 81 Drawing Parabolas: History and Pedagogical Approach Benaouda BENNACEUR 103 Historical Overview of Conic Sections Faiza REMAOUN-DJABEUR 117 Geometrical Optics in the Islamic World: The Example of Burning Mirrors Setti AYAD 133 History of the Concepts of Digestion and Biological Regulation Aïcha BENAMAR 167 Surgery in the Arab Medical Tradition: Abū l-Qāsim al-Zahrāwī Wahiba BENABOURA 181 Conclusion Benaouda BENNACEUR 13 Pharmacopoeia: The Example of Arabic Pharmacopoeia in Ibn al-Baytār (in Arabic) Fatima Zohra BOULEFDAOUI

The issue of teaching and learning raises not only epistemological question: what knowledge to teach, how to organise that knowledge within an often overloaded curriculum, what discussions to initiate with students regarding the meaning of concepts (what is the place of a particular concept within scientific thought and what problems or classes of problems does it address), but it also raises the question of the teacher’s methodology or practice: what pedagogical approach would facilitate lasting learning?