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Company No. 3901346 |
ADULTS LEARNING MATHS
NEWSLETTER |
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No. 10 Summer 2000 |
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In this issue: |
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2. Adults, Society and Mathematics
- Research projects at
the University of Linz, Wolfgang Schloeglmann,
University of Linz, Austria |
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3. Teaching and learning maths
through art, Eliana M. Guedes & Regina
M. Zandonadi, (Brazil) and Frank Haacke & Harrie Sormani (The Netherlands) |
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4. How Mathematics Education
Reforms Pertain to Undergraduate Curriculum: An Introductory Study of an Experimental
Developmental Algebra Course for Adults, Katherine
Safford Ramus, Ed.D. |
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6. About
ALM |
From the
chair
It is a pleasure to welcome members to this the Summer issue of the ALM newsletter.
This issue marks the completion of the first full volume (Winter, Spring,
Summer issues) of the re-constituted newsletter. I am sure all of you will
support a vote of thanks for the editorial committee for their excellent work.
Together as editors, contributors and readers let us work to make it even
better in the future.
All of you will be aware from previous offerings in this column that I
have been using it to promote dialogue between the various constituencies
within ALM, most notably between the trustees and the ordinary members. There
is a very considerable time lapse from one annual meeting to the next and we
need vehicles for communication in the intervening period. I have tried to use
this column to bridge the gap by keeping members abreast of developments in
ALM. In recent issues we have discussed company status and other issues. The
most pressing business for trustees at this time is preparation for ALM-7 and
the AGM. This year it is likely that members will be presented with a motion to
raise the members’ subscription as the current subscription is insufficient to
meet the financial obligations of ALM beyond the current year. Therefore,
action is needed on this front and may indeed be needed on other fronts as
members decide.
Before I sign off I would like to congratulate two members who have
recently completed their doctorate studies, Dr Kathy Safford and Dr Tine
Wedege. The abstracts of their research theses are featured in the newsletter
(No. 9, 10).
Finally let me remind members to send in their booking forms for ALM-7
if they have not already done so. I look forward to seeing all of you at ALM-7
in Boston in July.
Prof.
John O’Donoghue, Chair, ALM
Dept
of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland.
Fax:
+353 61 334927. email: John.ODonoghue@ul.ie
Adults, Society and Mathematics - Research projects at the University of Linz
Wolfgang Schloeglmann, University of Linz, Austria
1.
Introduction
Our research into the learning of mathematics by adults started
in1979/80 with an initiative to make university studies accessible for people
who do not have general access to university studies. Our purpose was the
development of a course concept that should offer the required knowledge for
people with occupational experiences, to successfully study special subjects at
a university.
In 1981 we started working on a conceptual framework and development of
materials for a high level course "Mathematical methods for users". The
two-years program offered further training in new mathematical methods at a
highly scientific level to people like engineers or economists who need
mathematical methods in their professions.
The main result of our research into further education programs in
mathematics was that we did not know enough about the following points:
1. What
is the function of mathematics within industrial society?
2. What
mathematical knowledge and skills do adults need in general and the
participants of our courses in particular?
3.
What
kind of mathematical knowledge have adults developed, especially related to
school mathematics?
4. What
is so specific to adults learning mathematics?
The research projects were supported by the Austrian Ministry of Science
and Research and the Austrian Science Foundation. The research work was started
in 1985 in collaboration with Juergen Maass, and from 1992 to 1997 also with
Helga Jungwirth. The statistical part of the investigation into the
mathematical knowledge of adults was done by Andreas Stoeckl.
In the following sections a few main topics of the findings of our
research are described briefly.
2.
Mathematics and Society
Mathematical applications have a long tradition in the history of
mankind. The needs of economic planning, documentation and trade led to the
development of mathematical methods.
These mathematical methods are important for the organization of our
society and each democratic society needs mathematics to fulfill their
principles (for example, elections). The use of mathematics to organize our
democratic and economic life is the background to why all people have to learn
mathematics in school.
The new technologies led to a strong extension of the use of mathematics
especially in industry. Linz is a center of Austrian industry and the
department of mathematics at the University of Linz is a European center of
Mathematics for Industry. Therefore we were able to study industrial projects
and the function of mathematics within these projects. The results of this
study included the following points.
Highly industrialized countries are characterized by the use of their
technologies. These technologies determine the structure of the society (the
philosopher Heinz Huelsmann describes this phenomenon by the term
"technological formation") and mathematics is an essential part of
these technologies, more than mathematics itself it can be seen as a technology
because:
l Mathematics is the basis of all new
technologies since algorithms are the basis of software and materialized
mathematical logic is the basis of the hardware for computers of
microprocessors.
l Mathematical theories and models
are becoming increasingly important as the basis of a variety of forward-
looking alternatives, in simulating planning in economic and technical fields,
for example in control, automation and construction; or in political and social
life.
l Mathematics has long been
established as the scientific core of the natural sciences and, to an
increasing extent, also of social science.
We could also recognize a paradoxical situation with respect to
mathematics. On the one hand, the use of mathematics is steadily increasing (at
no stage in human history have there been more applications of mathematics than
at the present time) and on the other hand the general public is often of the
opinion that mathematics is of little practical use. This phenomenon of
"disappearance of mathematics" has consequences to the education in
mathematics. We have more mathematics in the background and this mathematics
determines our working, economic and social life. Therefore we need more
mathematical knowledge to understand these processes but many people think we
do not need more education in mathematics because we cannot see mathematics in
vocational and in everyday life.
3.
Organizational frames of further education in mathematics in Austria
In Austria, the Further Education System offers a wide-spread set of
learning opportunities in many different institutions. Further education means
that the participants have finished their first education in school, university
or vocational education and have a short or long vocational or professional
experience. Within these further education courses there are also courses with
links to mathematics.
A brief explanation:
Mathematics is a social phenomenon, firmly embedded in social contexts,
a functional form of communication. Mathematics provides a mean for individuals
to explain and control complex situations of the natural and artificial
environment and to communicate about those situations. On the other hand,
mathematics is a system of concepts, algorithms and rules, embodied in our
thinking and doing. In our time, the means system aspect of mathematics
received a new quality in connection with new technologies, because mathematics
is the basis of new technologies. Mathematical algorithms are the basis of
software and mathematical logic is the basis of hardware of computers.
Following on from these remarks, further education in mathematics is a
wide-spread field with many different aspects and many different courses. But
we can classify two types of further education courses: "Mathematics
courses" where explicit mathematics teaching takes place and
"Mathematics - related courses" where mathematical concepts and
methods are applied but the word "mathematics" neither appears
explicitly in the course announcement nor in the course contents (examples are
Computer Aided Design (CAD) or computer Numerical Control (CNC) courses or
often software training).
4.
Adults and mathematics - knowledge and beliefs
An important question for all kinds of further education in mathematics
concerns the competencies in mathematics at the beginning of a course. These
competencies influence the educational work within the courses at all levels. Most
of the international investigations (Adult Literacy in USA; First International
Adult Literacy Survey of the OECD) use the literacy concept and deal with
context related tasks. Many mathematical courses in further education connect
more directly to school mathematics. Therefore it is necessary to know what are
the competencies in school mathematics. The investigations gave the following
picture.
About 90% of adults in Austria are able to calculate with natural
numbers. In the case of further elements like brackets or more different
operations in one task, the familiarity of calculation decreases. In the case
of calculations with negative numbers, decimal numbers and fractions often more
than 50% of adults have difficulties to calculate in a right way (depending on
the operation). A greater part of adults cannot convert units of measures
correctly.
Furthermore the subjective theories of adults to mathematics are of
interest. Many adults identify mathematics with arithmetic. Doing mathematics
is for them doing some sort of calculations. Adults claim to be convinced of
the importance of mathematics in our society but some findings indicate that
this conviction has more the status of a dogma as it is not based in an
appropriate knowledge about applications. The relationship to mathematics in
school has often been emotionally strained and many adults say that they worked
hard but did not experience success. Often they could not make sense of the
mathematical subjects they were taught. Learning mathematics for them is
learning formulas and rules.
Summing up we can say that an adult’s relationship to mathematics is
ambiguous - convinced about the importance of mathematics, but for their
personal life they often try to avoid mathematics.
5.
Learning processes
Many courses in mathematical further education belong to the category of
formal qualifying programs. The aim of these courses is the preparation for a
formal examination. The analysis of the structure of interactions within these
courses shows a close similarity to mathematics teaching in school. The
interaction takes place in the form of a guided development of task-solutions
intended to serve as models for the examination at the end of the course. This
situation leads on the one hand to a reinforcement of beliefs and attitudes
acquired in school. On the other hand there are often emotional reactions in
learning situations which are based in experiences with school mathematics.
This leads to paradoxical situations. Participants demand to teach mathematics
as a set of formulas and rules that should be applied in tasks in an
appropriate way but their negative experiences with this kind of mathematics
learning in school leads to emotional reactions which may hinder a successful
learning process. One goal of the research for coming years is to get a better
understanding of the influence of emotions on cognitive processes.
References
J.Maasz , W.Schloeglmann: Post- graduate Course in Mathematics for
Engineers: Some Methodical and Didactical Problems in: Blum u.a. (Hrsg.):
Applications and Modelling in Learning and Teaching Mathematics, Chichester
1989, 317-322.
J.Maasz , W.Schloeglmann: The Mathematical World in the Black Box - the
Significance of the Black Box as a Medium of Mathematizing; Cybernetics and
Systems 19, (1988), 295-309.
J.Maasz, W.Schloeglmann (Eds.): Mathematik als Technologie ?
Wechselwirkung zwischen Mathematik, Neuen Technologien, Aus- und Weiterbildung,
Weinheim 1989.
H.Jungwirth, J.Maasz, W.Schloeglmann: Mathematische Weiterbildung als
Gegenstand soziologischer Bildungsforschung, ZDM 1993/1, 41 - 47.
J.Maasz, W.Schloeglmann: Adults Learn Maths - Some Results of our
Research, in: D.Coben (Ed.): Proceedings of the Second International Conference
of ALM, 1995, 26 - 31.
H.Jungwirth, J.Maasz, W.Schloeglmann: Mathematik in der Weiterbildung,
Abschlussbericht zum Forschungsprojekt, Linz 1995.
G.FitzSimons, H.Jungwirth, J.Maasz, W.Schloeglmann: Adults and
Mathematics, in: A. J. Bishop/K. Clements/C. Keitel/ J. Kilpatrick/C. Laborde
(Eds.): International Handbook of Mathematical Education, Kluwer Academic
Publishers, Dordrecht 1996, 755 - 784.
H.Jungwirth, W.Schloeglmann: Mathematische und mathematikhaltige
Weiterbildung - Analyse ausgewaehlter Problemfelder, Abschlussbericht zum
Forschungsprojekt, Linz 1997.
Teaching and learning maths
through art
Eliana M. Guedes & Regina M. Zandonadi -
University of Taubaté - UNITAU – Brazil, and Frank Haacke (REC - Eindhoven)
& Harrie Sormani (CINOP) – The Netherlands
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Brazil and The Netherlands, have a multicultural
society that is always trying to integrate people from different cultures
making them part of our society. Although we know that socially, politically
and financially speaking we are completely different we have an important
point in common: we are multicultural! That’s why we will learn with each
other and make our differences not so important, especially if we can use
these differences among ourselves to learn with teachers and students from
both countries exchanging very good real examples of everyday life to improve
learning and teaching of Mathematics. |
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Since 1997 Eliana Maria Guedes (UNITAU-Brazil),
Frank Haacke (REC-The Netherlands) and Harrie Sormani (CINOP-The Netherlands)
have been working together, exchanging experiences and visiting each other’s
countries willing to learn the educational approaches in each system and
begin a special course for adult students: Mathematics and Arts. A report
about the Brazilian experiments was published in the ALM proceedings 1998. A
poster presentation about the joint Brazilian-Netherlands project will be
given at ALM7. This article focuses on the didactical background of this
project. We, the teachers, found each other in our ideas about how adults
learn math. We called that – TTT: Teachers Teaching Teachers. |
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TTT
- Modular Course for Teachers
The educational environment where counseling and support activities in
Mathematics will take place, directly helping students and teachers with the
modular course for teachers will be presented, focussing particularly on how
Hands-On-Activities and Integrated Mathematical Activities have been
incorporated into Ethnomathematics, providing an engaging introduction to this
realm of Mathematics.
The principal aims of the activities are to break the barrier of myths,
which usually comes with the teaching and learning of Mathematics and to
develop creativeness through the integration of Art and Mathematics looking
for:
w
the
development of the visual ability
w the
learning and teaching of Mathematics
w the
integration between Mathematics and Art
w the
social integration.
We considered that:
w interest
is one of the first rules of learning, having the world as a mediator to a
process by which man learns about himself and others
w the
teaching of Mathematics, especially Hands on Activities and Integrated Mathematical
Activities contribute to a formative process, improving creativeness and
favouring a particular type of thought, seeking new situations being sensitive
to the visual impact.
Learning is a lifelong process in which man learns about himself/herself
and others. We recognise and make allowances for the characteristics which make
adults a different group among others, knowing their differences in motivation,
learning styles, mental capabilities and personality types. We cannot assume
adults are homogenous learners, and the adult classroom or learning environment
must reflect an appreciation of heterogeneity deriving from experiences, age
and many other factors. Adults are individuals and need to be regarded as such.
They have concrete and valid reasons for their participation in a learning
experience, bringing their expectations, values and motivation into the
educational process, accepting their failures and facing them as experiences
they had before. Each adult is unique, reflecting different learning styles,
also commonly called cognitive styles, which we generally divide into two
classes of learning, known as dependent field and independent field. We wish to
explore a new vision of learning considering that every person is a unique
individual in a unique situation with a unique set of experiences. Importantly,
this is a constructivist approach where knowledge is to be
constructed by the mutual efforts of teachers and learners.
Through Hands-On-Activities and Integrated Mathematical
Activities, group discussions, and collaborative learning partnership will
be stimulated. We want to emphasize the teacher/learner perspective as
participants, developing teaching, learning and communication strategies
applicable in everyday life. Teachers will share knowledge; they will value and
build upon the knowledge, personal experiences, language, strategies, and
culture that each student brings to the learning situation.
In genuinely collaborative classrooms, everyone learns from everyone
else, and each student is going to have the opportunity to make contributions
and to appreciate the contributions of others. All students are important for
enriching learning in the classroom, especially because learning beyond the
classroom increasingly requires understanding diverse perspectives. To ensure
success, it is essential to provide students opportunities to do this in
multiple contexts in learning situations.
The work and activities we are going to present have been developed by
professors, teachers and students from the University of Taubaté-São Paulo,
Brazil and the REC-ROC Eindhoven, The Netherlands. We look for classroom
environments that focus on significant mathematics teaching and learning which
encourages independent and collaborative student work, providing a motivating
context for further studies maximizing each student’s potential and giving
students self-confidence for applying different strategies to achieve
explorations and solutions.
But even when there are no technology opportunities the role of the
teacher will be the facilitator of the learner’s discovery of knowledge. This
means that students are participants, not spectators, experimenting with Hands-On-Materials
to discover, making conjectures, and testing these conjectures before
moving on to the abstract stage of learning.
The objectives of this work are to:
w empower
adult students through the integration of manipulative Hands-On-Activities
and Integrated Mathematical Activities
w develop
and promote independent and co-operative and flexible learning
w use
textual material making relations to real-world situations
w use
software packages and tele-platform in future.
w integrate
technology into mathematics as a learning tool to enhance, expand and embrace
the existing curriculum in the future.
Research done by Regina M. Zandonadi, Frank Haacke and his team has
shown that Hands-On-Activities and Integrated Mathematical Activities,
particularly in the elementary school years and in special classes for adults,
is a unique and valuable addition to the curriculum, being not only fun but a
valuable method for developing vital skills.
The educational benefits we are going to consider are co-operative
learning, cognitive development, multi-cultural awareness, community building
and a link to mathematics.
Some additional benefits are going to be discussed while we develop the
activities, such as:
w increasing
hand-eye co-ordination
w developing
sequence and organizational skills
w developing
shape, size and colour recognition
w leading
to a sense of self-mastery and confidence
w encouraging
co-operative learning
w building
confidence and boosting self-esteem
w exploring
original ideas and recognizing pictorial symbols
w nurturing
creativity
w developing
analytical and critical thinking adeptness
w developing
geometric skills and vocabulary while increasing three-dimensional awareness
w encouraging
patience and self-discipline.
The Hands-On-Activities and Integrated Mathematical
Activities, provide a challenging and interesting way for discovery which
allow students to physically manipulate, and play with geometric figures. The
introductory work in Geometry is easier to illustrate using a flat sheet of
paper to construct geometrical models and make relations with numbers and
counting elements of an especial mathematical set. It is an effective tool for
shifting the emphasis. With Integrated Mathematical Activities the student
develops his strategical solving skills, social and communicative skills and
mathematical skills by solving a real world problem. Integrated Mathematical
Activities are real world problems in a rich context that is part of the
environment of the student. They invite the student to exchange ideas and to
solve the problem in a mathematical way, from the development of algorithms for
operations on fractions and to explore the development of a part-whole concept,
fractions of one unit, fractions of whole numbers, common fractions of a
fraction, equivalent fractions etc. Tessellation provides students with an
opportunity to explore their own creative and artistic abilities through a
combination of art and mathematics.
Strategical skills can be identified as:
w understanding
of an assignment or problem
w collecting,
ordering, analysing and representing the information critically
w judging
(numeric) facts and calculations
w developing
a method to solve the Integrated Mathematical Problem
w developinga
solving plan systematically, methodically and according to the plan working to
get a solution, this with the flexible use of mathematical techniques
w using
adequate research and reasoning strategies
w making
and conjecturing on basis of the used information
w reflecting
upon and evaluating the result of the problem or assignment, chosen
solving-method and presentation.
Acknowledgements
Although this work has been done in several places in Brazil and South
America, we consider it to be just a beginning of a new approach to learning
and teaching of Mathematics by adults. Political, Social and even Educational
beliefs do not allow teachers to work the way that would really help their
students. They have to follow government rules and curriculum which most of the
time are made by experts that never have worked with adults. So we need to
trust our feelings and walk towards our goals, that’s what is happening
especially when we see the results of some educational research related to the
learning and teaching of Mathematics through Art. We would like to thank all
the community, tutors and students involved, especially to Frank Haacke’s team
in The Netherlands and Harri Sormani. Since we met they have been working with
Ethnomathematics, Hands-On-Activities and Integrated Mathematics considering
the importance of things that people think are too ordinary to work with,
trusting feelings and ideas, and looking towards the social and educational
integration between different cultures.
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How Mathematics Education
Reforms Pertain to Undergraduate Curriculum: An
Introductory Study of an Experimental Developmental Algebra Course for Adults
Katherine Safford Ramus, Ed.D.
In 1990, I began my doctoral studies in mathematics education at
Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. Mathematics educators in the
United States were in the throes of examining the teaching of math at all
levels of instruction, including courses offered at tertiary institutions. The
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM), an organization comprised
primarily, but not exclusively, of elementary and secondary teachers, had just
released a document entitled Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School
Mathematics which suggested sweeping changes in content and pedagogy for
the instruction of students aged 5 through 18 in the United States (NCTM:
1989). I had been engaged for several years in the instruction of students
entering university who were under-prepared for the mathematics they would
encounter in their courses. Many were returning adult students who have been
out of the mathematics classroom for some time. The remedial or developmental
courses offered these students cover the same material as the elementary and
secondary syllabi but at a rapid pace. For my doctoral research I was offered
the opportunity to create and offer a developmental algebra course for
University College, Rutgers. The course was designed exclusively for adults and
based on the changes recommended in the NCTM standards document.
Pilot versions of the course were conducted during the 1993-1994 and
1994-1995 academic years. During the second year, the research reported in this
dissertation was conducted. My doctoral committee posed four questions to be
explored:
l How
are the course materials different from those employed in a typical
developmental algebra course?
l How
did the teaching learning transactions differ between the two types of classes?
l What
was the effect on student attitudes toward doing mathematics?
l Was
there a difference in student performance in algebraic tasks?
Qualitative methods were used to answer the first three questions while
the last was evaluated using quantitative methods.
Over the course of the two year pilot project, I wrote a text that
reflected the problem-centered approach suggested by the reform movement. This
text was compared to 19 developmental mathematics texts from a variety of
commercial publishers. Criteria for evaluation were the explicit or implicit
emphasis on function, the inclusion of basic statistics, the integration of
word problems with notation exercises, de-emphasis on pre-determined rules,
presentation of algebra as a generalized arithmetic, emphasis on real-world
problems, concurrent treatment of rational number manifestations, use of visual
or tactile materials to develop concepts, permission to use calculators, and
emphasis on problem-solving heuristics. The syllabus and exit examination of a
parallel, traditional course was compared to those of the experimental class.
It was determined that the syllabi were closely aligned and the experimental
final included and exceeded the content of the traditional course. No
commercial text could be found that matched exactly the instructional approach
and content sequence of the experimental course. This last factor could be a
serious deterrent to a wide-scale adoption on a collegiate level of the
approach advocated by the reform movement
Graduate students from Rutgers Graduate School of Education evaluated
the teaching/learning transactions. They visited sessions of both the
experimental course and a comparable course offered at another tertiary
institution and reported their findings in a research paper. The observers
found evidence that the intended goals of the course designers had been
achieved, that students actively participated in small-group problem solving
tasks and this collaboration produced positive results. They also warned that
there are start-up implications that the instructor needs to be aware of at the
outset of the course because both the students and the instructor must alter
their traditional view of the role of mathematics teacher/student interactions.
In their papers the observers gave evidence that mathematics education in a
developmental classroom can be successfully altered to incorporate the
recommended NCTM standards for change in content emphasis and instructional
style.
Student attitude in the experimental section was assessed via a
semi-structured interview based upon a protocol administered by experienced
interviewers. Ten students from a class of 13 participated in the interviews
which lasted 45 minutes to an hour in duration. The interviews were recorded on
both audio and video tape and the tapes then transcribed. Both the transcripts
and interviewer notes were analyzed question by question and the results
summarized along the themes that emerged. The interviews were a rich source of
data. Students were vigorous advocates of the methodology and expressed strong
support for the continuation and expansion of the course to other universities
and other adult mathematics instruction (Safford:2000).
Students for the experimental class and two comparison classes were evaluated
for performance on a series of 9 algebra problems that were included on the
final examinations of the three groups. The results were analyzed using an
ANOVA. The findings were inconclusive. The experimental group performed
significantly less well overall than students in one of the comparison classes
that was composed almost exclusively of traditional-age university students who
had recently completed secondary school. There was no significant difference in
performance when compared with the other class, a class with a higher number of
adult students. As happens so often is social science experiments, factors
beyond the control of the investigator neutralize the attempt to control
variables. Variation in performance may be attributable to factors other than
the format of the instruction.
Based on the findings reported in this dissertation, it would seem that
the reforms being implemented in the K-12 mathematics curriculum in the United
States can be successfully incorporated into undergraduate instruction (Ramus:
1997). These reforms can have a positive effect on student attitude and anxiety
towards mathematics. Further research is needed to determine an equitable
balance between concept development and skill reinforcement.
References
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (1989). Curriculum and
Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics. Reston, VA: NCTM.
Ramus, K. S. (1997). How the Mathematics Education Reforms Pertain to
Undergraduate Curriculum: An Introductory Study of an Experimental Developmental
Algebra Course for Adults Dissertation Abstracts International,
9717243.
Safford, K. (2000). "Algebra for Adult Students: the Student
Voices," in Coben, D., O’Donoghue, J., and FitzSimons, G. (eds.), Perspectives
on Adults Learning Mathematics: Research and Practice, Dordrecht, The
Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Coming soon . . .
Adults’ Mathematical Thinking and Emotions: a study of
numerate practices
by Dr. Jeff Evans
This book, to be published by Falmer Press as one of the series of
Studies in Mathematics Education edited by Paul Ernest, addresses several
perpetual concerns around the teaching and learning of mathematics, and its use
in work and everyday life, concerns that are reflected in the discussions at
ALM each year. They include:
- doubts
about the transferability of school learning to outside settings;
- the
apparent under-representation of certain groups of adults, such as women,
in mathematics study; and
- the
aversion of many people to mathematics - widely viewed as hard, boring,
alien, and so on.
These concerns are addressed via several key problems: how, and to what
extent, numerate thinking and performance of adults must be understood as
situated, in context - and the consequences for rethinking the trans-fer of
school or college mathematics learning to work or everyday situations; the
inseparability of thinking and emotion, and the consequent ways in which
mathe-matical activity is emotional, and not simply cognitive; the understanding
of mathematics anxiety in psychological, psychoanalytical and feminist
theories; social differences in mathematics performance, anxiety, and
confidence, especially those related to gender and social class.
In his own research with adult learners, Jeff Evans has developed an
interdisciplinary perspective drawing additionally on sociology,
poststructuralism and psychoanalysis. Thus he is able to offer an
under-standing of the context of mathematical thinking as ‘positioning’ in
practices.
and another new resource . . .
Adult Numeracy Development: Theory, Research, Practice
edited by Dr. Iddo Gal
This new book is now available from Hampton Press, a USA publisher. It
contains 16 original chapters written by adult educators and researchers
involved in adult learning, mathematics and literacy education, and related
fields from Israel, USA, UK, Malaysia, Canada, The Netherlands and Australia.
Chapters open up key issues regarding the nature of numeracy and how to promote
it in a range of formal and non-formal settings and with diverse types of
learners.
Few comprehensive publications have so far been addressed at
professionals interested in adult numeracy or in adults’ ability to
communicate, interpret, critically evaluate, or act upon the quantitative
aspects of their worlds. This book was designed as a resource for educators,
trainers, researchers, curriculum developers, and managers interested in the
development of mathematical knowledge and skills, broadly viewed, as part of
adult education, literacy education, continuing education, workplace training,
and mathematics education in diverse learning contexts. It can also serve as a
reader in graduate courses dealing with adult and numeracy learning.
A selection of the chapters are:
Section I. Perspectives on Numeracy
l
Numeracy
and Adult Learning: Implications of Research for Instruction
l Understanding
NCTM Standards: Building a Problem-solving Environment
Section II. Approaches to Instruction
l
Instructional
Principles for Adult Numeracy Education
l Characteristics
of Adult Learners of Mathematics
l Adult
Numeracy at the Beginning Level: Learning Basic Number Concepts
l Using
Technology to Develop Numeracy Skills
l Teaching
Mathematics to Adults with Specific Learning Difficulties
Section III. Reflections on Practice and Learning
l Learning to
Learn: Mathematics as Problem-Solving
l Mathematics
as Communication
l Mathematics
and the Traditional Work of Women
Section IV. Assessment
l A Framework
for Assessment in Adult Numeracy
l Assessment
of Adult Students’ Mathematical Strategies
Available from commercial booksellers or from the publisher, Hampton
Press, 23 Broadway, Suite 208, Cresskill, NJ 07626 USA
E-mail: HamptonPR1@AOL.com
Cost: $US27.95 (softcover);
$US79.95 (hardcover)
New chair for the UK’s Joint Mathematical Council
Professor Celia Hoyles, who gave the Keynote Address at the 6th
International ALM Conference (ALM-6) in Sheffield, has recently been elected to
be chair of the Joint Mathematical Council (JMC) of the United Kingdom.
JMC was set up in 1963 to promote the advancement of mathematics and the
improvement of the teaching of mathematics. Its members represent the complete
range of stakeholders in the mathematics community, research mathematicians,
statisticians, numeracy lecturers in further education, teachers and teacher
educators. The JMC aims to provide a unified view of mathematics education in
order to make representations to government and government agencies.
See also: http//www.mis.coventry.ac.uk/~nhunt/jmc/index.html
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Company No. 3901346 |
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Adults Learning
Maths – A Research Forum (ALM) |
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What is ALM?
ALM was formally established at the Inaugural Conference, ALM-1, in July 1994
as an international research forum with the aim to promote the learning of
mathematics by adults through an international forum which brings together
those engaged and interested in research and developments in the field of adult
mathematics/numeracy teaching and learning.
ALM is a forum for
experienced and first-time researchers to come together and share their ideas
and their reflections on the process as well as the outcomes of research into
hitherto neglected area of adults learning mathematics. ALM puts people in
touch with each other, providing a framework for collaboration and helping to
stimulate and develop research plans. We are especially keen to encourage
practitioners to undertake research.
Since 1994, ALM has gone
from strength to strength and now has 140 members in 19 countries. In 2000, it
was registered as a company and as a charity in England and Wales.
What does ALM offer?
ALM membership brings with it opportunities to:
- contribute to an international forum of
researchers and practitioners in the field
- share concerns, insights and research at
ALM annual conferences, and to attend at a reduced rate
receive ALM newsletter (free) - receive ALM conference proceedings (free
of charge to conference delegates). These proceedings constitute the most
significant and authoritative collection of papers on adults learning
mathematics available today
- network, electronically and otherwise,
with practitioners and researchers in the emerging field of adults
learning mathematics.
ALM Officers
Chair: Prof. John O'Donoghue,
University of Limerick
Secretary: Dhamma
Colwell, 56B Hanley Road, London N4 3DR, UK
Treasurer: Sylvia
Johnson, Sheffield Hallam University
Membership Secretary: Sue Elliott,
Sheffield Hallam University
Join ALM today!
ALM is actively seeking to expand its membership worldwide. Membership
is open to all individuals and institutions who subscribe to its aims.
For details contact Sue Elliott, Membership Secretary at the Centre for
Mathematics Education, Sheffield Hallam University, 25 Broomsgrove Road,
Sheffield S10 2NA, UK email: S.Elliott@shu.ac.uk
or your regional ALM membership agent:
AUSTRALIA Dr Janet Taylor, OPACS, Uni. of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba,
Australia. Email: taylor@usq.edu.au
BRAZIL Eliana Maria Guedes, Dept. of Architecture, Mathematics and
Computing, UNITAU, University of Taubaté, Sao Paulo, Brazil. Email:
emg@aquarius.com.br
DENMARK Tine Wedege, IMFUFA, Roskilde Uni., PO Box 260, 4000 Roskilde,
Denmark. Email: tiw@mmf.ruc.dk
NEW ZEALAND Barbara Miller-Reilly, Student Learning Centre, The University
of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, N.Z. Email: Barbara@math.Auckland.ac.nz
REPUBLIC OF IRELAND Prof. John O’Donoghue, Dept of Maths and Statistics,
University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland. Email: John.ODonoghue@ul.ie
THE NETHERLANDS Mieke van Groenestijn, Utrecht University of Professional
Education, PO Box 14007, 3508 SB, Utrecht, The Netherlands. Email: Mieke.v.Groenestijn@feo.hvu.nl
UNITED KINGDOM Sue Elliott, Centre for Mathematics Education, Sheffield
Hallam University, 25 Broomsgrove Road, Sheffield S10 2NA, UK email: S.Elliott@shu.ac.uk
USA Dr Katherine Safford, Saint Peter’s College, Kennedy Boulevard, Jersey
City, NJ 07306, USA.
Email: SAFFORD_K@spvxa.spc.edu
Membership fees
Individual: pound stg £15
Institution: pound stg £30
Student/unwaged: pound stg £3
Low waged (minimum)
Editorial Committee
Mieke van Groenestijn, Utrecht University of Professional Education,
Netherlands
Dave Tout, Language Australia
The views expressed in individual articles are those of the authors and do
not necessarily represent the views of ALM or of the editorial committee.
Many thanks to our contributors.
We would like to encourage members to submit items to the newsletter.
These should be sent to:
Mieke van Groenestijn, Faculty of Ed., Utrecht University of Professional
Education, PO Box 14007, 3508 SB, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Email: Mieke.v.Groenestijn@feo.hvu.nl
© ALM 2000