Annual Report 2005 - Fields Institute - University of Toronto

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Forum food phrase meant to be interpreted in multiple ways. Three sub-themes were identified: mathematics and society, mathematics in the classroom, and the mathematics education community in Canada. Together these provided the perspectives from which forum participants provided responses to the overall themes. The plenary portion of the program consisted of three panel discussions, and a public lecture by Stephen Lewis titled Deciphering our World (see the “Public Lecture” section of the annual report for details). Three parallel sessions on the first day provided brief and at times inspirational presentations titled Sharing Successes. But the main work of the forum was conducted by the 10 working groups, each meeting three times over the course of the forum. Together, the groups’ participants worked to create projects, initiatives, and documents that outlined ways in which Canadians may address issues and concerns arising out of mathematics education. The final plenary session of the forum included reports from all groups. Work continues after the forum, to share these ideas and documents widely with policy makers, school boards, universities, colleges, parents, students, and the general public in a variety of ways. Working Groups: • Mathematics education in the aboriginal community • Early numeracy: Developing mathematical literacy in the early years • Why is mathematics relevant in our society? • Supporting student success – Helping students reach their potential • Creating a curriculum that affords learners opportunity to develop powerful mathematics • Learning in the presence of technology • Mathematics through the eyes of a child M a t h e m a t i c s E d u c a t i o n • Classroom practice and mathematics education research • Developing a national mathematics teaching community • Supporting teacher success Sponsors: CMS Alberta Education Fields Institute Ministère de l’Education, du Loisir et du Sport du Québec University of Saskatchewan Nova Scotia Department of Education PIMS Yukon Department of Education McMaster University CRM ISM Toronto District School Board Ontario Ministry of Education Saskatchewan Learning Nunavut Department of Education CAIMS SSC Université Laval Nova Scotia Mathematics Teachers’ Association Ontario Association for Mathematics Education BC Association of Mathematics Teachers Saskatchewan Mathematics Teacher Society Association Mathématique du Québec Groupe des responsables en mathématiques au secondaire Designing Mathematical Thinking Tools A Fields Symposium June 10–12, 2005 Held at the University of Western Ontario Organizers: George Gadanidis (UWO), William Higginson (Queen’s), Robin Kay (UOIT), Kamran Sedig (UWO) and Christine Suurtamm (Ottawa) Symposium participants Fields Institute 2005 ANNUAL REPORT 116
This Fields-sponsored symposium was, to use Richard Noss’s phrase, a rare event. Unlike typical conferences where papers are presented and discussed, the only symposium presentations were the keynote addresses by Richard Noss from the University of London, Rafael Núñez from the University of California, and Anna Sfard from the Michigan State University and the University of Haifa (via videoconference from Haifa). The remaining time was devoted to small group discussions on the symposium’s theme, with Noss and Núñez participating fully. The symposium explored mathematical thinking tools. The group was especially interested in investigating the role of metaphor (or ‘seeing-as’) in the development of mathematical understanding. And they were interested in the role of technology, in this context. The initial questions included the following: - What are mathematical thinking tools? - How are mathematical thinking tools designed? Are they actually designed? Who designs them? What is the role of technology? - What are the roles of metaphor and the nature of metaphorical thinking in mathematics? - What is understanding? What is mathematical understanding? How do we define such terms as understanding, misunderstanding, conception and misconception? - What are some mathematical, pedagogical and research implications of this work on mathematical metaphor and thinking tools? Keynote Speakers: Richard Noss (London) Building and critiquing representational systems for mathematical thinking Rafael Núñez (UC, San Diego) Metaphor’s (often) ignored side: a view from contemporary cognitive science Anna Sfard (Michigan State & U. Haifa) Metaphor of object in mathematics and in mathematics education courses: a prop and a trap JUMP 2005 Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies (JUMP) is a volunteer-based tutoring organization founded in 1998 by mathematician John Mighton. The program started in John’s apartment with 7 tutors and 15 students and now has been implemented in 100 schools across Canada as well as M a t h e m a t i c s E d u c a t i o n John Mighton and friends in Britain, Australia and the United States. JUMP was founded with the objective of providing free tutoring in mathematics for under-privileged children. Over the past two years, however, in response to an explosive growth of interest in the program among educators and parents, they began to make their methods and materials available to a wider public. The organization produced workbooks for students and training materials for teachers (for grades 3 to 6) which were tested in over a hundred classrooms this year and which will be available in a second draft at the end of August. The team is presently developing curriculum based materials for grades 1 to 2 and 7 to 8, as well as units on problem solving and a series of activities that will show how mathematics appears in biology, chemistry, magic tricks, secret codes, strategy games, art and computer science, as well as units on logic, topology and graph theory. One of the goals of JUMP is to change the perception of mathematics among the general public. Many adults look Fields Institute 2005 ANNUAL REPORT 117
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Institute Profile 2 Message from th
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departments in universities and col
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major fund-raising campaign that wo
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postdoctoral fellows, the institute
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Andrew Neitzke (Harvard) Elements o
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string theory. Nigel Hitchin himsel
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study and discuss the recent develo
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Takuya Okuda (Caltech) Calabi-Yau c
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workshop, Thursday was devoted to a
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Other issues center around various
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Thinking of this problem in terms o
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Lectures DISTINGUISHED LECTURE SERI
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the pair on an equal footing. In th
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outstanding question in this field
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distinguished long-term visitors, C
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Achim Kempf of the University of Wa
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THE NATIONAL PROGRAM ON COMPLEX DAT
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Hugh Chipman disciplines, some comm
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MITACS, NPCDS, the Sustainable Fore
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Bo Song (Clemso) Visualization of f
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Michael Joswig (TU Berlin) Convex h
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Norbert Lütkenhaus (Erlangen) Quan
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Annual Report 2005 - Fields Institute - University of Toronto

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