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Full-Text Articles in Education
The Nothing That Really Matters, Szilárd Svitek
The Nothing That Really Matters, Szilárd Svitek
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
Zero has (a) special role(s) in mathematics. In the current century, we take negative numbers and zero for granted, but we should also be aware that their acceptance and their emergence in mathematics, and their ubiquity today, have not come to happen as rapidly as, for example, that of natural numbers. Students can quickly become confused by the question: is zero a natural number? The answer is simple: a matter of definition. The history of zero and that of negative numbers are closely linked. It was in the calculations of debts that the negative numbers first appeared, where the state …
Mathematics Education As Dystopia: A Future Beyond, Peter Appelbaum, Charoula Stathopoulou, Constantinos Xenofontos
Mathematics Education As Dystopia: A Future Beyond, Peter Appelbaum, Charoula Stathopoulou, Constantinos Xenofontos
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
We argue that scholars and practitioners of mathematics education need to find new directions through recognition of its dystopic characteristics, and embrace these characteristics as both the source of challenges and method of response. This contrasts with the generally utopic approach of most scholarship in the field. We offer critical ethnomathematics education as a model, since it has its own origins in lingering dystopic legacies. A perpetual hopelessness and disempowerment is one implicit curriculum of contemporary mathematics education, where the mathematics one learns might help to describe things, yet hardly assists in transforming the reification of power and agency in …
The Problem Of Words: Learning To Teach Mathematics When Numbers And Languages Mix, Gladys Krause
The Problem Of Words: Learning To Teach Mathematics When Numbers And Languages Mix, Gladys Krause
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
In this piece I propose a perspective shift, from a simplified view of mathematics story problems to a more academically rigorous perspective that integrates mathematical proficiency and language practices crucial for educating bilingual students. The data presented in this article provide a window into what preparing bilingual pre-service teachers to teach mathematics might involve. I discuss issues that arise in the context of preparing Spanish-English bilingual pre-service teachers in a way that can inform their practice in linguistically and culturally diverse classrooms.
Middle School Students Generating Mathematical Problems From A Real-Life Situation, David Coffland, Ying Xie
Middle School Students Generating Mathematical Problems From A Real-Life Situation, David Coffland, Ying Xie
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
In this study, we examined the effect of different presentation formats of a realistic situation on students’ mathematical problem-posing behavior. We divided thirty-six middle school students into two groups, gave them a pretest, and then showed them a realistic, problem-posing situation in Artifact or Video format. We used Silver’s core dimensions of creativity, namely fluency, flexibility, and originality, to measure participants’ problem-posing activity. The results for the fluency measures showed that the Artifact group wrote more questions than the Video group but the same number of mathematics problems. The Video group posed problems in more mathematical domains than the Artifact …
Visual Teaching Of Geometry And The Origins Of 20th Century Abstract Art, Stephen Luecking
Visual Teaching Of Geometry And The Origins Of 20th Century Abstract Art, Stephen Luecking
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
As a group, the artists educated near the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries possessed greater mathematical knowledge than expected of artists today, especially regarding constructive skills in Euclidean geometry. Educational theory of the time stressed such skills for students in general, who needed these to enter the workplace of the time. Mathematics teaching then stressed the use of manipulatives, i.e., visual and interactive aids thought to better fix the student’s acquisition of mathematical skills. This visual training, especially in geometry, significantly affected the early development of abstraction in art. This paper presents examples of this visual …
Symmetry And Measuring: Ways To Teach The Foundations Of Mathematics Inspired By Yupiaq Elders, Jerry Lipka, Barbara Adams, Monica Wong, David Koester, Karen Francois
Symmetry And Measuring: Ways To Teach The Foundations Of Mathematics Inspired By Yupiaq Elders, Jerry Lipka, Barbara Adams, Monica Wong, David Koester, Karen Francois
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
Evident in human prehistory and across immense cultural variation in human activities, symmetry has been perceived and utilized as an integrative and guiding principle. In our long-term collaborative work with Indigenous Knowledge holders, particularly Yupiaq Eskimos of Alaska and Carolinian Islanders in Micronesia, we were struck by the centrality of symmetry and measuring as a comparison-of-quantities, and the practical and conceptual role of qukaq [center] and ayagneq [a place to begin]. They applied fundamental mathematical principles associated with symmetry and measuring in their everyday activities and in making artifacts. Inspired by their example, this paper explores the question: Could symmetry …
The Mathematics Orientation Seminar: A Tool For Diversity And Retention In The First Year Of College, Salvatore J. Petrilli
The Mathematics Orientation Seminar: A Tool For Diversity And Retention In The First Year Of College, Salvatore J. Petrilli
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
In this article I describe Adelphi University's Mathematics Orientation Seminar, a new course that was introduced into the mathematics major to help students find their passion in mathematics and to strengthen the educational community within our department. I discuss quantitative and qualitative results of surveys among students in the Mathematics Orientation Seminar in Fall 2016 and Fall 2017, which suggest that this might be a useful course for other institutions to utilize within any major. Finally, I explore faculty perspectives and describe what I believe to be the final version of this course.
Dramathizing Functions: Building Connections Between Mathematics And Arts, Gunhan Caglayan
Dramathizing Functions: Building Connections Between Mathematics And Arts, Gunhan Caglayan
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
This article focuses on connections between mathematics and performance arts (drama). More specifically we offer an exposition of a segment of college algebra mathematics (an introduction to functions), with an approach primarily emphasizing the aesthetic aspects of mathematical learning, teaching, and performing.
What If?: Mathematics, Creative Writing, And Play, Emily Clader
What If?: Mathematics, Creative Writing, And Play, Emily Clader
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
Mathematics can inform creative writing by suggesting structures for it to follow, as well as by providing the imaginative impetus for common rules to be broken. In a workshop co-taught by the author, a class of sixth-grade students explored this interplay as they produced fractal-inspired poetry and geometry-inspired fiction. This article describes the form and results of the workshop in the context of a broader discussion of the influence of mathematics upon literature.
The Role Of Sequence In The Experience Of Mathematical Beauty, Leslie Dietiker
The Role Of Sequence In The Experience Of Mathematical Beauty, Leslie Dietiker
Journal of Humanistic Mathematics
In this article, I analyze the aesthetic dimensions of a sequence of mathematical events found in an unusual first grade lesson in order to demonstrate how sequencing may affect an individual’s experience of mathematical beauty. By approaching aesthetic as a sense or felt quality of an experience in context (Sinclair, 2001, 2011), this analysis explains how sequence can affect the way mathematical objects or actions are experienced by an individual. Thus, rather than questioning whether or in what ways a set of mathematical objects are beautiful or not, this paper addresses under what conditions is the mathematics in play beautiful. …