Perspectives on Adults Learning Mathematics, Research and Practice

edited by
Diana Coben
University of Nottingham, UK
John O'Donoghue
University of Limerick, Ireland
Gail E. FitzSimons
Monash University, Victoria, Australia

Contents and Contributors
Acknowledgements. Preface. Introduction; D. Coben, et al. Review of Research on Adults Learning Mathematics; G.E. FitzSimons, G.L. Godden.

Section I: Perspectives on Research on Adults Learning Mathematics; D. Coben. Mathematics or Common Sense? Researching `Invisible' Mathematics through Adults' Mathematics Life Histories; D. Coben. Researching Adults' Knowledge Through Piagetian Clinical Exploration – the case of domestic work; J.C. Llorente. Understanding their Thinking: the tension between the Cognitive and the Affective; J. Duffin, A. Simpson. Understanding their Thinking: the tension between the Cognitive and the Affective; J. Duffin, A. Simpson.

Section II: Adults, Mathematics, Culture and Society; J. O'Donoghue. Mathematics: Certainty in an Uncertain World? R. Benn. Ethnomathematics and Political Struggles; G. Knijnik. Statistical Literacy: Conceptual and Instructional issues; I. Gal. The roles of feelings and logic and their interaction in the solution of everyday problems; D. Colwell.

Section III: Adults, Mathematics and Work; G. FitzSimons. Women, Mathematics and Work; M. Harris. Technology, Competences and Mathematics; T. Wedege. Mathematics and the Vocational Education and Training System; G.E. FitzSimons.

Section IV: Perspectives in Teaching Adults Mathematics; J. O'Donoghue. Algebra for Adult Students: the Student Voices; K. Safford. Exploration and Modelling in a University Mathematics Course: Perceptions of Adult Students; B.J. Miller-Reilly. Assessing Numeracy; J. O'Donoghue. Adult Mathematics and Everyday Life: Building Bridges and Facilitating Learning `Transfer'; J. Evans. Teaching `not less than maths, but more': an overview of recent developments in adult numeracy teacher development in England – with a sidelong glance at Australia; D. Coben, N. Chanda. Postscript: Some Thoughts on Paulo Freire's Legacy for Adults Learning Mathematics; D. Coben. Index.

Kluwer Academic Publications, hardbound, ISBN 0-7923-6415-5, July 2000

Adult Numeracy Development: Theory, Research, Practice
edited by 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:

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

Adults’ Mathematical Thinking and Emotions: a Study of Numerate Practices
by 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:

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 transfer of school or college mathematics learning to work or everyday situations; the inseparability of thinking and emotion, and the consequent ways in which mathematical 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 understanding of the context of mathematical thinking as ‘positioning’ in practices.