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Company No. 3901346 Charity No. 1079462	ADULTS LEARNING MATHS NEWSLETTER
	No. 9 Spring 2000

From the chair
Our colleague and former ALM chairperson, Diana Coben, put it well when she and her co-authors spoke about ALM and the next phase in their article in the last issue of the newsletter. There the impending change in status for ALM, from association to an incorporated charity, was discussed in detail. I can now announce that ALM has been registered as a company and as a charity in England and Wales (Company no. 3901346, Charity no. 1079462).

This means that we enter the next phase as a registered company and charity with new obligations but more importantly it means we can enter the next phase with a new impetus derived from our new status. It can function as a platform for a more proactive role in adults mathematics education. There is, I believe, a need to push out the boundaries of our research area in a more deliberate and concerted manner. This means harnessing the expertise and commitment of our members in new and more creative ways. The trustees will be giving attention to this issue in the months ahead and would welcome input from the members.

In the last issue of the newsletter (No. 8), I identified four cornerstones of ALM international activity in the area of adult mathematics education:

• annual international conference
• publications
• network of practitioners and researchers
• research and scholarship of individual members.

The challenge, as I see it from the chair, is to develop each of our cornerstone activities and to evolve a strongly connected infrastructure of activities based on them. This will require innovation and dedication on our part but I am confident that members will rise to the challenge. I look forward to the next phase with confidence and I am excited by the prospect of new developments as ALM leads the way in the field of adults learning mathematics.

Before I sign-off, let me remind members that our local organisers, Mary Jane Schmitt and her colleagues, have put together an excellent programme for ALM-7 at Tufts University in July (details elsewhere in this issue) and I urge members to make every effort to attend.

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

Mathematics knowledge and technological competencies
- Reconnaissances and constructions in the borderland between the didactics of mathematics and adult education research

Tine Wedege, Roskilde University, Denmark

1. Epistemological studies within the field of `adults and mathematics'
The subject area of the didactics of mathematics is stretching between teaching, learning and knowing, and the subject and problem fields emerge from the choice of aspect (determined by the questions of why, what, how teach mathematics, etc.). A problematique in the didactics of mathematics may be characterised, inter alia, by a specific perception of mathematics, mathematics knowledge and learning, and that it can contain a value-based answer to the question: Why should society offer mathematics teaching? Ethnomathematics is an example of a new didactic problematique expanding the problem field of mathematics education.

In connection with the general up-grading of adult and supplementary training, `Adults and mathematics' is constituted as a field of research in the borderland between didactics of mathematics and adult education research.Two different lines of approach are possible in the research: the objective line of approach (society's requirements with regard to adults' math-containing competencies) and the subjective line of approach (adults' need for math-containing competencies and their beliefs and attitudes to mathematics).

In 1997, I initiated a debate about the characteristic features of the research area and the discussion continued, now formulated as a question about ALM (`Adults Learning Mathematics') as a community of practice and research where adults' learning and numeracy, not mathematics teaching, are placed at the centre and where the answer to the justification problem (Why teach mathematics?) is `empowerment' in social and working life.

The subject area of the didactics of mathematics is `always-already' structured and delimited by the concrete forms of practice and knowledge that are currently regarded as mathematics teaching, learning and knowledge. Reconnaissance in the new research area of `adults and mathematics' gives rise to a reconstruction of the subject area of the didactics of mathematics. The headings for the three main areas are: 1) mathematics teaching and math-containing teaching; 2) learning mathematics; and 3) mathematics knowledge, math-containing knowledge and feelings about and attitudes to mathematics. In the research area of `adults and mathematics', it is necessary to work in an interdisciplinary way. As a conclusion to the first part a specific concept, problematique, is defined which encapsulates the specific unit for theoretical practice within the didactics of mathematics so that it can also contain the research area of ALM.

2. Didactic studies of adults' math-containing competencies and qualifications in working life
An empirical study of unskilled workers' mathematics activity at work is based on seven working hypotheses. Among these are:

(1) In every unskilled job, problems arise that can only be solved by quantification and use/evaluation of quantitative units.

(2) Although tasks and functions of unskilled workers require relatively simple formal skills and understanding in mathematics, it must be possible to use them in complex working situations.

(3) There are systematic differences between mathematics at the workplace and mathematics in traditional teaching.

(4) Unskilled workers are not conscious of their use of mathematics in their daily work. Numeracy in the labour market is defined as math-containing competencies which everybody in the labour force needs in principle. Lena Lindenskov and I have developed an analytical tool which was utilised in the studies: numeracy seen in the four dimensions of context, medium, personal intention and skills/understanding.

Mathematics knowledge in qualifications.
During the 1980s and 1990s we have experienced two opposing trends: while the pocket calculator and computers, on the one hand, mean that the need for manual calculations and constructions have been reduced, on the other hand, the same technology opens the possibility for work organisation where the unskilled worker takes on planning functions which make new demands on their mathematics knowledge. Taking a point of departure in the double nature of the concept of qualification, the data from the empirical study, is analysed using both a subjective and an objective line of approach. The examples show, inter alia, how mathematical skills and understandings are integrated with attitudes to mathematics in workers' qualifications. I define qualifications as human knowledge, skills, characteristics and attitudes relevant in the interaction with technique and work organisation in a work or job function on the labour market.

An analytical distinction is made between two types of qualifications: the specific and the generally professional. The social qualifications (personal characteristics and attitudes) are defined as a quality in these two types of qualifications. (Wedege, 1998a)

Competence as a construction in education and research.
The widespread use of concepts of competence in educational research is an expression of the wish to avoid the classical dichotomy of knowledge versus skills. Within the area of political and administrative problematiques, concepts of competence are construed for, respectively, general labour-market requirements and specific sub-competencies as aims in modularised adult education programmes. In the didactics of mathematics different sets of mathematical sub-competencies have been defined, partly as a consequence of administrative demands regarding the evaluation of competence development. In other didactic problematiques `numeracy' and `matheracy' appear as concepts that cover people's competence in dealing with mathematical challenges in everyday life. (Wedege, 1998b)

Adults' competencies and dispositions in different situation-contexts.
During the 1980s there was growing interest in practice-learning. In 1991, Lave and Wenger paved the way for a theory of learning as an integral part of social practice with the concept of learning as legitimate peripheral participation. However, the theory of the current community of practice as the only explanatory framework provides no possibility for understanding the inertia in adults' disposition to change their attitude to mathematics.

Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus covers precisely an incorporated system of tenacious dispositions as principles for readiness to act. I claim that habitus can provide a theoretical framework for the subjective conditions for adults' learning mathematics. By analysing an interview with a 75 year old woman (Ruth) about mathematics in her life, I illustrate and discuss by using the two analytical concepts their suitability for analysing adults' mathematics knowledge in different situation-contexts (at school, work, the family and leisure time). On the basis of the discussion, I claim that the concept of habitus, which was developed in a sociological problematique, can be imported into a didactic problematique about adults' learning mathematics together with the concept of learning as legitimate peripheral participation. (Wedege, 2000)

Worker's technological competence in the workplace.
The worker's technological competence in the workplace is defined as a personal competence for assessing and adapting to, or changing, situations and evaluating and taking part in technological decision-making processes. It is a math-containing competence based on expertise, authoritativeness and flexibility, which can place the worker as subject in the technology relation. The worker develops capacities and dispositions as a basis of the competence by participation in communities of practice on the labour market This competence, which is based on numeracy, includes practical and reflective mathematics knowledge, the foundations of which I claim can be learned in math-containing education programmes.

Acknowledgement
Specific thanks for inspiration and support to the following members of ALM: Jeff Evans, Gail FitzSimons, Lena Lindenskov, Jürgen Maasz, and Wolfgang Schlöglmann. The work is partly funded by the Danish Research Councils.

References
Wedege, T. (1998a). `Mathematical knowledge as a vocational qualification.' In Bessot, A. & Ridgway, J. (eds.) Education for Mathematics in the Workplace. Dordrecht: Kluwer academic publishers. (In press)

Wedege, T. (1998b). `Technology, Competencies and Mathematics.' To be published in Coben, D.; FitzSimons, G.; O'Donoghue, J. (eds.) Adults Learning Mathematics: Research and Practice. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

Wedege, Tine (2000). `To know - or not to know - mathematics, that is a question of context.' Educational Studies in Mathematics, 39/1-3, 205-227.

Editorial Note:
This paper is a summary of Tine's PhD dissertation. Tine was awarded her Ph. D. from Roskilde University, Denmark in February. ALM congratulates her on this achievement.

Mathematics in Use
Mieke van Groenestijn, Hogeschool van Utrecht, The Netherlands, reports on a Keynote Address from ALM6.

Professor Celia Hoyles from the Institute of Education in London, presented some interesting findings of a study into the mathematics in two professions: drug calculations in nursing and airplane navigating by pilots.

Drug calculations involve nurses working with proportions to obtain a dose given a doctor's prescription of the amount to be administrated and the stock concentration of the drug. The nurses often know the rule they learned in school and recalled that perfectly as:

•    amount you want
  ————————   X   volume it is in
  amount you have got

However, observations on the wards showed that the nurses rarely followed this rule. Instead they used a variety of finely-tuned strategies, which was cued by specific kinds of drugs. In practice it appears that it is the drug itself and its clinical treatment which has meaning for the nurse. It is the drug itself which gives nurses directions how to deal with relations needed to calculate the volume of the dose. The numbers are not simply quantitative measures of a drug. They are part of the drug and acquire their meanings in relation to the drugs, its properties and action and the recommended doses for different weights and conditions. Only a general formula is not applicable in these situations. It is the nurses' professional expertise to develop appropriate mathematical models for drugs in very specific situations, e.g. one nurse told: `with odansetron you only need to half it'

Airplane navigation by pilots in part involves the speed and heading of a plane with the wind velocity in order to fly a specified destination. During actual flights it appears that navigation is not only a matter of applying basic calculations using a triangle of velocities as described in instruction manuals. Pilots did their calculations more by literally feeling where the wind was coming from and coordinating pieces of their knowledge in terms of specific characteristics, not of planes in general, but of the behavior of the type of plane, a Fokker 100, they were used to flying.

Expertise is characterized by diversity. The pilots and nurses showed fragments of individual knowledge applied in different ways in very specific situations. Mathematical general relationships (the triangle of velocities and the drugs formula) are not sufficient to actually manage particular situations. It is also the pilots and nurses own feelings and practical knowledge about the materials they use that lead them to the right decisions in specific situations.

Mathematics - Socialism - History
David Kaye & Valerie Seabright, Learner Support, City of Westminster College, UK.

The Background
At ALM6 we presented a poster session entitled "Mathematics - Socialism _ History". This article explores a little further the ideas that led to its development and some tentative ideas for future developments.

The origins are a reflection of our own personal histories. One of us grew up in the industrial heartland of Sheffield and the other in the ever-changing inner city environment of London. We both came to mathematics education later in our own careers and had previous experiences that owed as much to sociology, psychology and history, as it did to mathematics. We both have had direct personal involvement in radical political movements since the late 1960s.

Out of these shared experiences we discovered there was a mathematical thread linking the political and economic theories of Marxism and the social and industrial disputes of the working class in Sheffield and South Yorkshire.

The poster presentation was thematic and non-linear. How we made the links may best be explained by taking the key words in pairs: Mathematics & Socialism, Socialism & History and Mathematics & History.

Mathematics & Socialism
As numeracy teachers we are generally on the look out for examples of "everyday maths". Using this approach we looked at extracts from the works of Karl Marx, written in the 19th century. Marx wrote a number of pamphlets to popularise and explain his main theories. These explanations use percentages, rates of change, and proportion. Obviously here we can see a better understanding of these simple mathematical relationships leads to a better understanding of Marx's economic theories, both then and now.

Here are two examples:

Socialism and History
Socialism and history was inspired by our knowledge of the history of Sheffield, the temporary home of ALM in July 1999; and the base for major industrial, social and political developments. The city of Sheffield had been a very important centre for the industrial growth of the North of England, and particularly, for Yorkshire. For many years Sheffield and the surrounding area were famous for steel production, and Sheffield cutlery had a world-wide reputation. The destruction of the steel industry, along with much of Britain's heavy manufacturing industry during the 1980s is a sad economic fact, and a tragedy for thousands of working people.

As a major industrial centre, with both skilled and unskilled work, Sheffield had been a centre for the organisation of workers in trades unions. Since the early 1840's it was a stronghold for the Chartist movement, pressing for a charter to allow universal adult suffrage. The 1860's saw Sheffield's early trades unionists staging militant action, labelled the "Sheffield Outrages", which contributed to the first Act enabling legal trade union activity (although still very restricted). A Sheffield worker quoted during this period commented:

This also led to the growth of a well organised and strongly independent local government movement. A hundred years later, in the 1970s and 1980s the Labour City Council in Sheffield introduced many popular policies. These included a very efficient and very cheap city transport system, major housing developments, help and support for unemployed and sympathetic re-development of the inner city. These were welcomed by the local people and came to be seen as examples of municipal socialism. Unfortunately these progressive policies did not last much beyond 1990.

To represent this theme we presented numerical data on the growth and decline of steel production, complimented by images of industrial protest in the Sheffield steel industry. The struggle to defend local jobs and the industry depends on a clear analysis of these statistics as well the organisational strength to oppose closures in more direct ways. The defence of the industry was lost on this occasion, but the importance of such statistics remains.

Mathematics and History
This theme can be looked at in two ways; either the use of mathematics to understand and analyse historical topics or the history of mathematics itself. When we consider using the study of economic history, social trends, voting patterns and economic theory, then again an understanding of a range of mathematics is required. This may include interpreting and reading tables and diagrams as well as some comprehension of statistical analysis. In the poster session we represented this theme by some recent statistics on the voting patterns of the citizens of Sheffield. This was a very simple example from the very large resource of statistics on political and social trends.

The history of mathematics and its use in teaching is a large and important subject in itself, which we did not have time or space to pursue. However, a hint of this link between history and mathematics is given by the examples from Marx which show that such familiar school topics such as percentages and proportion were in every day use during the 19th century. We should also remember that in his major works on the analysis of surplus value Marx himself used and developed more complex mathematical concepts. Here is an example from part two of "Theories of Surplus Value"

"In order to put this down in the form of equations, we shall call the absolute rent AR, the differential rent DR, the total rent TR , the market value MV, the individual value IV and the cost price CP. We then have the following equations:

Possible Futures
In preparing the poster presentation for ALM6, and subsequently working on this article, we found many additional quotations and examples, all of which suggested further investigation.

For example there were summaries of Marx's work that gave the ideas, but removed the mathematical terms. We have discovered sources of material where trades unions advise their members how to evaluate the financial benefits of a work to rule as opposed to a strike. We have become aware that we set ourselves strict boundaries on what was relevant both geographically (Sheffield) and looking at a historical perspective. The same themes can easily be pursued for other cities or countries, for international comparisons and applied to current global developments. What we remain convinced of is that there exists the need for adult political numeracy.

Learning Outcomes: Skills or Function?
Tom Ciancone, Numeracy Instructor, Toronto District School Board, Canada

Do we teach mathematical skills or functional mathematics? That's the question. How should learning outcomes in adult numeracy reflect this dichotomy?

In 1997, in the province of Ontario in Canada, the Ministry of Education and Training introduced a "Learning Outcomes Matrix" of literacy and numeracy skills as part of a their Literacy and Basic Skills (LBS) division. This new LBS division seeks to consolidate and standardise a myriad of literacy and adult basic education programs throughout the province. There is a new emphasis on program accountability and learner performance evaluation with a corresponding de-emphasis on outreach, accessibility and curriculum. In this brief article, I would like to look at the numeracy component of the LBS program from a critical perspective.

As a numeracy instructor and trainer in Toronto since 1988, I believe that numeracy provision needs to be a balance between function and skill development. Alan Mortiboys (1984) warned against the extremes of teaching mathematical skills without a context or of adopting a purely functional approach with a variety of timetables, menus, advertisements and so on. Terry Riley (1984) concluded: "We need to adopt a balanced approach: one in which mathematical rules are understood and practised, and where appropriate, used in situations deemed to be relevant to the student by the student." Although these references seem old, this balanced approach, where function is integral, is based on principles of adult learning that are rooted in context and relevance to every day life.

The Ministry of Education and Training in Ontario (1998) characterises a learning outcomes approach as focusing "on learning achievements rather than learning inputs, such as program content. Program inputs are important, but it is ultimately the literacy skills that learners acquire which matter most." As an approach to learning this is quite laudable and appropriate for a learner-centred adult program. My concern is not with the theory but with the content and implementation of the LBS learning outcomes.

The LBS "matrix" features the following learning outcomes for numeracy:

One literacy tutor expressed her difficulty with one of the LBS success markers: "Models numbers grouped in 10's and 1's and uses zero as a place holder". This is a very abstract mathematical concept and the modelling of it requires understanding of place value and familiarity in demonstrating it in concrete terms. In the absence of curriculum guidelines and appropriate training, I fear that literacy instructors who have little experience in numeracy instruction will use these LBS learning outcomes as a prescribed course of study. This would be the antithesis of learner-centred education.

Furthermore, I have already seen new assessment tools based on the LBS learning outcomes that look like the school tests that failed literacy learners in the past. They are sheets of abstract sub-skills with a word problem thrown in for good measure. These assessment tools disregard the non-intimidating materials promoted by ALBSU in the 1980s and, indeed, those which were developed in the early 1990s by the Adult Basic Education Unit where I worked in Toronto.

The LBS learning outcomes for numeracy are based on the math strands (number, measurement, space and shape, data, and algebra) that come directly from the Common Curriculum now being used in the elementary schools in Ontario. They are not representative of adult literacy and numeracy practice and materials, either in Ontario, or throughout the world. Furthermore, they are in direct contradiction to learning outcomes developed in other countries of the world.

In Australia, the Certificates in General Education for Adults (CGEA) have a very different approach to learning outcomes. The Adult, Community and Further Education Board (1997) states that "the purpose and use of mathematics within meaningful contexts was made the focus of the new learning outcomes for this version of the CGEA. The learning outcomes still ensure that the skills and knowledge of the maths strands are included but they are arranged under a different organisational structure". The CGEA learning outcomes for numeracy are organised according to the purposes and functions of using mathematics:

As a numeracy practitioner in Ontario, I have no experience with the Australian CGEA learning outcomes nor have I fully used the LBS learning outcomes in my own classroom to make a true judgment on their worth. I have no hard evidence of which learning outcomes approach is more valuable or effective.

However, I am a firm believer of a balanced approach to numeracy instruction. I challenge policy makers and curriculum developers to consider the practice of adult numeracy instruction worldwide and to support numeracy instructors with approaches to learning that are meaningful and effective for adults living in the real world.

References
Ministry of Education and Training. (1998). Working with Learning Outcomes: validation draft. Toronto: Ministry of Education and Training.

Mortiboys, A. (1984). Numeracy: Linking skills to application. London: Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit.

Riley, T. (1984). "Functional Numeracy", Viewpoints, No.1. London: Adult Literacy and Basic Skills Unit.

The Adult, Community and Further Education Board. (1997). CGEA Information Sheet No. 5: Numeracy and Mathematics Stream. Victoria: The Adult, Community and Further Education Board.

News and Events

Update on ALM-7 ‘Adults Learning Mathematics’ Conference

Seventh International Conference on Adult Learning of Mathematics to be hosted in the US for the first time.  6-7-8 July 2000 in Boston.

The ALM Conference in the Year 2000 (ALM-7) will be locally hosted by the National Center for Adult Learning and Literacy at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education, in conjunction with the Department of Education at Tufts University, and the NCTM-affiliated Adult Numeracy Network. The meeting site will be on the Tufts campus (near Boston, MA, USA).

The theme of the conference will be "A Conversation between Researchers and Practitioners"

Past ALM conferences have welcomed participation by both researchers and teachers. As a result, the annual event has offered a wonderfully varied venue of practice-oriented and theoretically-focused sessions. This year, the local conference committee, in conjunction with the ALM Executive Committee, is experimenting with a structure intended to continue strengthening and encouraging that dialogue.

The field of adult mathematical learning (which includes numeracy) is young, so young in fact, we may be premature in calling it a "field". This newness is both a curse and a blessing. The lack of an articulated consensus or direction - both within and across countries -sometimes gives us a sense that we're flying by the seat of our pants whether we are in the classroom trying to figure out the best way to help adults build "number sense" or deciding upon methodologies for understanding how adults think mathematically at the workplace. However, our infancy affords an opportunity for teachers, researchers, and theoreticians to inform one another and to blur the distinctions between research and practice as we build the field together. That is the potential of Adults Learning Maths - A Research Forum.

At ALM-7, which meets this year at Tufts University in Massachusetts in the United States from July 6 - 8, we envision interaction happening in at least four ways:

(1) Plenary sessions will feature the researcher and the practitioner perspective. On Thursday (July 6), King Beach and Pam Meader will set the stage. Dr. Beach, from Michigan State University, has conducted research in Nepal and in the US of adults' mathematics in the workplace. Ms. Meader teaches and develops curricula for adults enrolled in adult basic education in Portland, Maine, and in recent years has conducted research in her own classroom. Friday's plenary session will feature Marilyn Frankenstein and Gelsa Knijnik. Dr. Frankenstein teaches mathematics at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and Prof. Knijnik has conducted research with landless rural workers in Brazil. Both have written extensively in the area of ethnomathematics. Roseanne Benn will close the conference on Saturday with a reflection on the relationship between researchers and practitioners. Roseanne Benn, Head of the Department of Adult and Continuing Education at the University of Exeter in England is the author of Adults Count Too: Mathematics for Empowerment.

(2) Informal opportunities to meet will abound. As is the tradition, this ALM conference will set the stage for conversations to spring forth among old and new friends. On-campus accommodations and shared meals will give participants a chance to meet informally. Whether lounging on the lawn of the Tufts campus, strolling through Harvard Square, or enjoying a beer or wine at the social hours, the relaxed summer atmosphere will invite impromptu dialogue.

(3) Symposia will bring both perspectives together to focus on major topics. As a way to continue the dialogue from year to year, ALM attendees will continue conversations on these topics: theoretical frameworks, technology, socio-cultural perspectives, and affective factors.

(4) Workshops, paper presentations, and poster sessions will pay attention to the needs of both groups. All presenters are encouraged to support the dialogue: researchers, by addressing the impact of their findings on practice and teachers, by considering research questions emerging from practice.

The National Center for Adult Learning and Literacy at Harvard University looks forward to hosting the meeting in conjunction with the Adult Numeracy Network and the Tufts University Department of Education. We hope to help make your stay in Massachusetts both productive and enjoyable. For updated information about the program and agenda, some advised readings, the call for papers and booking information, go to http://www.euronet.nl/~groenest/alm

For more detailed information about the program, please contact Mary Jane Schmitt at mary_jane_schmitt@gse.harvard.edu

------------------

Some advised Readings About the Conversation Between Researchers, Practitioners, and Theoreticians interested in the Learning of Mathematics as a preparation for ALM-7:

Christiansen, I. (1999). Are theories in mathematics education of any use to practice?, For the Learning of Mathematics, 19 (1), 20 - 22.

Huberman, M. (1999). The Mind Is Its Own Place: The Influence of Sustained Interactivity with Practitioners on Educational Researchers, The Harvard Educational Review, 69 (3), 289-319.

See the Harvard Educational Review on-line abstract: http://gseweb.harvard.edu/~hepg/herrecent.html

Selden, A. and Selden, J. (1997) Should mathematicians and mathematics educators be listening to cognitive psychologists?, MAA Online Research Sampler, http://www.maa.org/t_and_l/sampler/rs_2.html.

ICME-9/ Tokyo 2000

The 9th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME9) on behalf of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI), will be held in Tokyo/Makuhari, Japan, from July 31 to August 6, 2000.

The conference webpage is: http://www.ma.kagu.sut.ac.jp/~icme-9/index.html

ICME-9: Working Group for Action (WGA) 6: Adult and Lifelong Education in Mathematics

This working group for action (WGA) has been placed on the ICME program following the successful 1996 WG on Adults Returning to Mathematics Education, in recognition of the growing importance of this complex field which spans all educational levels, and is likely to be linked with issues of class, gender and race.

CHIEF ORGANISER:
Gail FitzSimons
34 The Boulevard, Warrandyte
Victoria 3113, AUSTRALIA
Tel: + 613 9844 2902 email: gfitzsimons@swin.edu.au

ASSOCIATE ORGANISERS:
Diana Coben, University of Nottingham, UK
email: diana.coben@nottingham@ac.uk

John O’Donoghue, University of Limerick, IRELAND
email: john.odonoghue@ul.ie

Internet sites

Have a look at our ALM Internet site:

http://www.euronet.nl/~groenest/alm

Avanti Web page

AVANTI Books, the distributor of ALM publications, has launched their web site:

http://www.avantibooks.com

Email: AVANTIHIL@aol.com

The Ohio Literacy Resource Center, Kent State University, Adult Numeracy Themes

http://archon.educ.kent.edu/Oasis/Resc/Educ/ANTindex2.html

SCUTREA

SCUTREA (Standing Conference on University Teaching and Research in the Education of Adults) provides a focus and meeting place for institutions, departments and individuals engaged in the education and training of adults and/or in research in the broad field of continuing education. The SCUTREA home page is at: http://www.scutrea.ac.uk

About ALM	Company No. 3901346 Charity No. 1079462
Adults Learning Maths – A Research Forum (ALM) ALM is an international research forum bringing together researchers and practitioners in adult mathematics/numeracy teaching and learning in order to promote the learning of mathematics by adults.

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
Brian Cann,
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

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