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Science and Mathematics Education Commons™
Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 4 of 4
Full-Text Articles in Science and Mathematics Education
Teaching With A Humanist, David Meredith
Teaching With A Humanist, David Meredith
Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal
This paper is a report about a team-taught course at San Francisco State University, and what the author learned having taught it over 11 years with faculty in the humanities. As part of an interdisciplinary curriculum called NEXA, which explored the boundaries between science and the humanities, the course revealed to the author several ways mathematics and humanities pedagogies can reciprocally learn from each other and emphasize similar goals.
Patterns Of Emotion Within Mathematics Problem-Solving, Frances A. Rosamond
Patterns Of Emotion Within Mathematics Problem-Solving, Frances A. Rosamond
Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal
There is often a divide between the experience of positive emotions toward math on the part of mathematical educators and negative emotions toward math on the part of students. This paper utilizes psychologist Richard Lazarus's work on the effects of positive emotions in order to highlight their benefits for mathematical pedagogy, to explain the author's experiment applying Lazarus's theory, and to suggest ways this application might support and foster positive emotions in students.
Gresham's Law: Algorithm Drives Out Thought, Sherman K. Stein
Gresham's Law: Algorithm Drives Out Thought, Sherman K. Stein
Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal
Gresham's law in economics states, "Bad money drives good money out of circulation." An application of this law in mathematical pedagogy states that "Algorithm drives out thought." While universities are ideally places where classes are meant to develop students' independence and critical thinking skills, often mathematics courses reflect this altered version of Gresham's law. This paper demonstrates the ways traditional mathematical pedagogy has held up Gresham's law and presents several suggestions for ways to change this approach to mathematical education to focus more on critical thinking without sacrificing the necessity of algorithm.
Applied Mathematics As Social Contract, Philip J. Davis
Applied Mathematics As Social Contract, Philip J. Davis
Humanistic Mathematics Network Journal
The author takes the position that mathematical education must redefine its goals so as to create a citizenry with sufficient knowledge to provide social backpressure on future mathematizations. This can be accomplished by increasing the part of mathematical education that is devoted to the description and interpretation of the processes of mathematization and by allowing the technicalities of the formal operations within mathematics itself to be deemphasized or automated out by computer.