Tales from the Mathematical Classroom

Abstract

All the world's a stage,And all the men and women merely players.As You Like ItDuring this lecture I am working from the premise that all the world is a mathematical classroom. By the time children begin formal education they have spent up to five years in this classroom [1] and during their years of schooling the fraction of time spent in a formal classroom is minimal compared to the time spent out of it. I wish to argue that this broader definition of a classroom impacts in many strong ways on our conceptions of mathematics and helps to construct the misconceptions about the nature of the subject that impinge on the learning of mathematics and the value which we place on it. It is within the formal classroom that many of the misconceptions about mathematical knowledge and skills develop. Although a great deal of writing exists about these, and while teachers use this knowledge to inform their teaching I wish to place more emphasis on the less familiar conceptions and misconceptions of mathematics. I will be challenging you to examine your own conceptions by showing you examples from television, radio, advertising, newspapers, film and literature. I will ask you to reflect on how a consideration of these aspects of pupils' experiences of mathematics might affect our teaching. I am also going to ask you to think about whether influencing young people's conceptions of mathematics might affect their decisions as to stop or continue studying the subject.