Inaugural lectures
Wednesday January 20, 2010 at 5.00pm - Lecture theatre CC.0.11, James France Building
Creating an inquiry culture in mathematics learning and teaching
Professor Barbara Jaworski, Maths Education Centre
Mathematics is arguably the most important subject in the curriculum, central to so many areas of life and academic disciplines. Yet students struggle with mathematics possibly more than any other subject.
In social settings adults are unashamed to say “maths was my worst subject”. Where mathematicians see beauty, elegance and power, ordinary people see a subject that is dull, boring, hard, uncompromising and inaccessible.
None of this is new, and those who teach mathematics know the realities. Where we should like to inspire and open learners’ minds to the wonders of mathematical relationships and structure, too often we close things down to stereotypical routines and incomprehensible formulae.
An inquiry approach to teaching starts from open questions that offer straightforward access to key concepts, encourage diverse approaches, demand explanation and argument and bring all students at all levels towards generalisation and proof.
Achieving such an approach is a complex task, demanding on teachers and there are no straightforward routines for achieving it. Teachers themselves need to explore, to inquire into possibilities to learn how to achieve ideals and enable student achievement.
An inquiry culture recognises diversity and uncertainty. It seeks to find out and know more about ways of achieving inspiring and accessible approaches to mathematics that are inclusive of all students. It addresses how we can avoid stereotyping mathematics so that it is available to only a high-flying mathematical elite?
An inquiry culture addresses such issues through research – research which both studies practice and is a part of the practice. It demands we look critically both at what makes mathematics problematic for students and at how we can avoid closing down mathematics in our attempts to avoid difficulty.
In her talk, Professor Jaworski will address the issues set out above from the perspective of the Mathematics Education Centre at Loughborough University where their research is focused on learning and teaching mathematics in the University.
It seems important that our students should have a positive experience of their mathematical learning and that when they graduate, they should do so with positive images of mathematics that can feed back into society.
Professor Jaworski will address what an inquiry culture can mean in this context and how we approach research that addresses issues, seeks to know more about relevant practices, and impacts on students’ mathematical experience.