Mathematics Teaching 193 - Dec 2005

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Celebrating 50 years of Mathematics Teaching

Welcome - Helen Williams

A science of education - Alf Coles Buy MT1930407 for £3

It is almost twenty years since Caleb Gattegno, a co-founder of ATM, published The science of Education, a final account of his life's work in the study of teaching and learning. There has been little movement in the UK in the direction of the radical and remarkable vision he painted in that book; he was perhaps ahead of his time.

An account of the first decade of AT(A)M - Dick Tahta, Derek Fletcher et al
MT022 Now do the following fifty examples - David Fielker
MT118 Memory - Dave Hewitt
MT120 Only awareness is educable - John Mason
MT125 The science of education - Dick Tahta
MT139 ...ings - Laurinda Brown

Mathematics Teaching Number 1... - Trevor Fletcher

When a teaching journal is founded various strategies are possible. You can enlist the support of a professional publisher, ensure adequate finance and start with a big bang. Over the last few decades a number of publications have started in this way. But we chose another method – you start with what you have, however modest, and you aim to make it grow.

MT1 (ATAM Bulletin No 1) [warning 5MB]

...And the next 100 issues - David Fielker Buy MT1931013 for £3

What gradually changed was scale, size and frequency and a slow introduction of some colour, never for the sake of it, but because it was needed mathematically.

MT66 Mathematics in mixed ability groups - Roy Kennard
Interview between David Fielker and David Wheeler
Early days of metrication
MT71 Humanising mathematical education - David Wheeler

The elastic ruler and the Storchschnabel - Paul Stephenson Buy MT1931415 for £3

'The Elastic Ruler', is a piece which begins 'Take a short length, about 6 inches, of white shirring elastic...' and in the space of half a page uses this simple tool to cut a swathe through vast areas of transformation geometry.

Where did it all start? - David Cain Buy MT1931618 for £3

'The pond in the picture (light grey) has sides of length A and B and the path around it has constant width and has the same area as the pond. What is the length of the diagonal of the 'path plus pond' rectangle in terms of A and B?'

Reflecting on MT - Derek & Barbara Ball

We invited Derek and Barbara to reflect upon their period as editors of Mathematics Teaching. Here they refer to a number of articles from previous issues of MT.

MT140 Train spotter's paradise - Dave Hewitt
MT143 cover
MT155 Feature on Proof
MT145 Cover with Christmas hearts
MT165 Centre spread about congruent polygons - Derek Ball
MT145 Content with process? - Mike Ollerton
Articles about differentiation
MT 161 Research into raising self-esteem in low attainers - Barbara Jaworski and Jane Edwards

From the branches: MT workshop - Laurinda Brown

Looking forward - Helen Williams

From the classroom

Unique squares - Deepthi Raghavan Buy MT1931818 for £3

The number world is always interesting and keen observation provides us with a wealth of information. One such experience happened to me when I was casually playing with squaring numbers.

Children teach a chicken - Tom O'Brien and Christine Wallach Buy MT1931921 for £3

The activity consists of inferring certain numerical rules by gathering data and testing hypotheses. In Mystery Woople, there are nine possible rules: divisible by 1, divisible by 2, divisible by 3, and so on up to divisible by 9. The computer randomly selects one of the rules and gives players three numbers which fit the rule.

Inequalities and paper hats - Stephanie Prestage and Pat Perks Buy MT1933133 for £3

Provoking thinking about what mathematics you want the pupils to learn and then you need to think about activities for the pupils to learn with. Before we share our activities on inequalities we ought to tell you that we have been working on algebra...

Thoughts on emergent maths - Suzanna Jacoby Buy MT1933839 for £3

I had long felt frustrated with some aspects of maths 'teaching' for Reception children. There were expectations of recording work, even though nearly all of the maths was practical in nature. You can take photographs of some activities, but that only records the doing, not the thinking.

Research

Taking the problem out of problem solving? - Laurie Jacques Buy MT1934041 for £3

The national curriculum for mathematics requires teachers to integrate Using and applying mathematics within the other programmes of study (Number, Shape, space and measures and Data handling).

Features

Playing with 50 years - Robin Stewart

OK - here we have the perfect party game for the festive season. Solve it all and you could win...heaps of self-esteem...

1955 solution from Deepthi Raghavan
1955 solution from Jean Holderness
1955 solution from Jenny Maxwell
1955 solution from Christian Rohrbach
1955 solution from Tom Krueger et al at Bradfield School
1955 solution from J Harris
1955 solution from Derek Ball: 'The lazy person's solution'

Words with... - Phil Boorman Buy MT1934245 for £3

Phil began in South London over 50 years ago – taking a mixed attainment class of 3rd year boys for most of their timetable – including, of course, mathematics. Fortunately, experimentation was encouraged and he enjoyed the freedom to design ways in which all the class members could share the responsibility for their learning.

MT160 Believing is seeing - Phil Boorman's closing address at the 1997 ATM conference
More about Phil Boorman in ATM People

Centre feature

Bridges: between mathematics and art - Phillip Kent and John Sharp Buy MT1932326 for £3

Mathematics is the source of a virtually limitless number of rich and beautiful images and structures, provided one has the inclination and some skills to 'read' and understand their æsthetic.

Obituary

Geoff Giles

Tributes to Geoff Giles in ATM People

Regular features

1 Correlation Street - Jonny Griffiths

Read the first of a new series by Jonny Griffiths - Correlation Street: "a mixture of what I would like to happen, and what I am glad does not happen in my classroom..."

Reflections - John Mason

Professional Officer's Update - Barbara Ball

Barbara Ball's farewell and a little about David Cowley who will following in her footsteps.

Influential Books Reviewed

Looking back through the archives, with a focus on book reviews, we felt you might like to look back at what some of our reviewers said about some influential books published over the last 30 or so years.

What we owe Children: the subordination of teaching to learning - Caleb Gattegno
The Mathematical Experience - P J Davis & R Hersh - 1983 by John Mason
Starting Points - C.S.Banwell, K.D.Saunders, D.G.Tahta - 1973 by Bill Brookes
Primary Mathematics Today - E.M.Williams and Hilary Shuard - 1971 by Arthur Morley
The Common Sense of Teaching Mathematics - Caleb Gattegno - 1974 by Dick Tahta
Children's Minds - Margaret Donaldson - 1978 by Arthur Morley
An addendum to Cockcroft - Laurinda Brown & Jo Waddingham - 1983 by David Cain

On being 50

Some extra words and writings (not in the printed MT 193) reflecting on MT and 50

On being told... - Bill Brookes