Selected Writings From The Journal Of The British Columbia Association Of Mathematics Teachers

The teaching and learning of mathematics in British Columbia has a long and storied history. An integral part of the past 50 years (1962-2012) of this history has been Vector: Journal of the British Columbia Association of Mathematics Teachers. This volume, which presents ten memorable articles from each of the past five decades, that is, 50 articles from the past 50 years of the journal, provides an opportunity to share this rich history with a wide range of individuals interested in the teaching and learning of mathematics and mathematics education. Each decade begins with an introduction, providing a historical context, and concludes with a commentary from a prominent member of the British Columbia mathematics education community. As a result, this monograph provides a historical account as well as a contemporary view of many of the trends and issues in the teaching and learning of mathematics. This volume is meant to serve as a resource for a variety of individuals including: teachers of mathematics, mathematics teacher educators, mathematics education researchers, historians, and undergraduate and graduate students. Most importantly, this volume is a celebratory retrospective on the work of the British Columbia Association of Mathematics Teachers.

Title in Canadian library system: Vector (Vancouver), ISSN 0382-0718.

The teaching and learning of mathematics in Saskatchewan—one of three Canadian provinces sharing a border with Montana—has a long and storied history. An integral part of the past 50 years (1961-2011) of history has been vinculum: Journal of the Saskatchewan Mathematics Teachers' Society (in its many different renditions). This monograph, which presents ten memorable articles from each of the past five decades (i.e., 50 articles from the past 50 years of the journal), provides an opportunity to share this rich history with a wide range of individuals interested in the teaching and learning of mathematics and mathematics education. Each decade begins with an introduction, providing a historical context, and concludes with a decade-specific commentary by a prominent member of the Saskatchewan mathematics education community. As a result, this monograph provides a historical account as well as a contemporary view of many of the trends and issues (e.g., curriculum, technology) in the teaching and learning of mathematics. This book is meant to serve as a resource for a variety of individuals, including teachers of mathematics, mathematics teacher educators, mathematics education researchers, historians, and undergraduate and graduate students and, further, as a celebratory retrospective on the work of the Saskatchewan Mathematics Teachers' Society.

The teaching and learning of mathematics in Alberta - one of three Canadian provinces sharing a border with Montana - has a long and storied history. An integral part of the past 50 years (1962-2012) of this history has been delta-K: Journal of the Mathematics Council of the Alberta Teachers' Association. This volume, which presents ten memorable articles from each of the past five decades, that is, 50 articles from the past 50 years of the journal, provides an opportunity to share this rich history with a wide range of individuals interested in the teaching and learning of mathematics and mathematics education. Each decade begins with an introduction, providing a historical context, and concludes with a commentary from a prominent member of the Alberta mathematics education community. As a result, this monograph provides a historical account as well as a contemporary view of many of the trends and issues in the teaching and learning of mathematics. This volume is meant to serve as a resource for a variety of individuals, including teachers of mathematics, mathematics teacher educators, mathematics education researchers, historians, and undergraduate and graduate students. Most importantly, this volume is a celebratory retrospective on the work of the Mathematics Council of the Alberta Teachers' Association.

The international New Math developments between about 1950 through 1980, are regarded by many mathematics educators and education historians as the most historically important development in curricula of the twentieth century. It attracted the attention of local and international politicians, of teachers, and of parents, and influenced the teaching and learning of mathematics at all levels—kindergarten to college graduate—in many nations. After garnering much initial support it began to attract criticism. But, as Bill Jacob and the late Jerry Becker show in Chapter 17, some of the effects became entrenched. This volume, edited by Professor Dirk De Bock, of Belgium, provides an outstanding overview of the New Math/modern mathematics movement. Chapter authors provide exceptionally high-quality analyses of the rise of the movement, and of subsequent developments, within a range of nations. The first few chapters show how the initial leadership came from mathematicians in European nations and in the United States of America. The background leaders in Europe were Caleb Gattegno and members of a mysterious group of mainly French pure mathematicians, who since the 1930s had published under the name of (a fictitious) “Nicolas Bourbaki.” In the United States, there emerged, during the 1950s various attempts to improve U.S. mathematics curricula and teaching, especially in secondary schools and colleges. This side of the story climaxed in 1957 when the Soviet Union succeeded in launching “Sputnik,” the first satellite. Undoubtedly, this is a landmark publication in education. The foreword was written by Professor Bob Moon, one of a few other scholars to have written on the New Math from an international perspective. The final “epilogue” chapter, by Professor Geert Vanpaemel, a historian, draws together the overall thrust of the volume, and makes links with the general history of curriculum development, especially in science education, including recent globalization trends.

First published in 2001. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Paul Ernest’s name is synonymous with social constructivism as a philosophy of mathematics. His contributions to mathematics education have occurred at a very fundamental level and to a extent shaped theory development in this field. His research addresses fundamental questions about the nature of mathematics and how it relates to teaching, learning and society. For the last three decades Paul has been a prolific scholar who has published in a wide array of topics such as the relationship between the philosophy of mathematics and mathematics education, and more generally the philosophy of mathematics education, ethics and values in mathematics education, and the philosophy of research methodology. The title of this Festschrift is meant to be a pun to convey the sometimes relativistic dimension to mathematical certainty that Paul argued for in developing his philosophy, and also a play on words for the fact that absolute “earnestness” may perhaps be a Platonic construct, and not possible in the realm of language and human discourse! Paul Ernest’s scholarly evolution and life can best be summarized in the words of Walt Whitman “Do I contradict myself? Very well then I contradict myself” (I am large, I contain multitudes). Indeed his presence has been large and multitudinous and this Festschrift celebrates his 65th Birthday with numerous contributions coming from the mathematics, philosophy and mathematics education communities around the world.

Interdisciplinarity is increasingly viewed as a necessary ingredient in the training of future oriented 21st century disciplines that rely on both analytic and synthetic abilities across disciplines. Nearly every curricular document or vision statement of schools and universities include a call for promoting creativity in students. Yet the construct of creativity and giftedness across disciplines remains elusive in the sense that the prototypical examples of such work come from eminent scientists, artists and mathematicians, and little if any work has been conducted with non-eminent individuals. This monograph is an attempt to fill this gap by putting forth the view that interdisciplinarity and creativity are related constructs, and that the cultivation of domain general creativity is possible. Mathematics has historically been anchored to numerous disciplines like theology, natural philosophy, culture and art, allowing for a flexibility of thought that is difficult to cultivate in other disciplines. In this monograph, the numerous chapters from Australia, U.S.A., Canada, Cyprus, Denmark and Japan provide a compelling illustration of the intricate connection of mathematics with literature, paradoxes, history, technology and modeling, thus serving as a conduit for interdisciplinarity, creativity and learning to occur.