Now that the Discovering Mathematics module has come to an end it has allowed me time to reflect on everything that has been presented in each lecture. There has been a range of guest speakers come in and take time to share their experiences and their observations specific to their own professions or vocations.  This has been hugely beneficial as it has really hit home the extent to which maths is used in the wider society outwith the education environment,This for many of us was our taste of maths in operation outwith our placement environment,

It has changed my whole mindset concerning why maths principals are resourceful and relevant to everyday life, It forced me to broaden my horizons the way I viewed maths and I could appreciate that there are  lots more functions available within maths that we can make use of outwith the obvious old favourites. One last thing we were asked to do by our lecturer was to bring in a favourite childhood board game and prepare some notes on the maths involved within this game. I chose to challenge myself and use the knowledge from this module to form the basis of my notes.

Ordinarily, I would have chosen something as simple as monopoly and chose the easy option of discussing the use of money involved. However, I decided to stick with my favourite childhood game and delve deeper with regards to the underlining fundamental mathematical principals involved, thus being ‘Guess Who’.

Aim of guess who is:

Each player starts the game with a board that includes cartoon images of 24 people and their first names with all the images standing up. Each player selects a card of their choice from a separate pile of cards containing the same 24 images. The object of the game is to be the first to determine which card one’s opponent has selected. Players alternate asking various yes or no questions to eliminate candidates, such as “Does this person wear glasses?” The player will then eliminate candidates by flipping those images down until all but one is left. Well-crafted questions allow players to eliminate one or more possible cards

The mathematical principals what I identified were:

• Data and analysis
• Probability and chance
• Process of elimination

Picking a game with no physical numbers involved was always going to be a challenge to pinpoint mathematical principals which apply. However, just by using the knowledge that I have gained through this module it has become apparent that maths goes so much deeper than numbers and figures. The principals above all relate to basic maths concepts that at school you learn alongside the use of numbers but by having the conceptual knowledge of using these fundamental maths procedures I can then apply them to different contexts in this case individuals on the board games features. This shows the power that mathematics can hold beyond the classroom if the correct pedagogy style is carried out. Which relates to Lipping Ma’s work that PUFM is essential in carrying out ‘teaching excellence’ which will provide learners with the ‘how and why’ of maths. Being able to solve a maths problem is not always the important task in hand within the classroom, learners will benefit much more if they can explain how they got to the answer and having the conceptual knowledge of why you are adopting that strategy to solve the problem in the first place. This will understandably cement a value towards the maths being taught and learnt in schools and children will be able to take this knowledge of fundamental mathematics into their adult life and more importantly be aware of when they need to utilise it in different contexts.

Lipping, M (1999). Knowing and teaching elementary mathematics: teachers’ understanding of fundamental mathematics in China and the United States. New York and London: Routledge.

I think I speak on behalf of most students when I express my fear when I was presented with my university timetable and it showed a three-hour maths lecture……

However, this mindset was quickly changed when I found out what the lecture entailed. We were required to take part in a business stimulation game, which would involve us working in partners to act as demand planners. This would relate to the theme of the lecture by looking at supply chains of businesses and carrying out demand planning with regards to our own business.

We were provided with a stock list presenting different prices and what we could get profit wise if we were to sell this stock in different quarters of the year. Each group started with the same budget and we had to pick no more than five items from the stock list for each quarter, We were then provided with figures by the lecturer of how our business performed in terms of how much stock we had sold. This then allowed us to make informed decisions about what stock we would like to order for the following quarter of the year and so forth until the business year came to an end. We could calculate the profit of each stock item after each year quarter to add to our original budget and by the end of the year the aim was to be the group with the most money in the budget, therefore have made the most profit.

If you had asked me at the start of this module, what maths is involved in this game? I would have simply answered addition, multiplication and subtraction.

However, having completed this game it has become very clear of the principals of maths involved go so much deeper. My partner and I were having to use data and analysis to predict what stock we would have to pre-order for the following months, we were having to use patterns and trends by looking at previous months’ performances and predicting the upcoming months that may have special occasions which could affect our stock sales for example valentine’s day had a major impact on the sale of champagne. We were having to think of shelf life of products so thinking about dates and time scales that the products would stay fresh for and judge if they were going to be cost efficient or not.

This lecture was eye-opening to myself and my partner, as I think it was to the whole module group, it highlighted the way maths concepts can interlink (Ma,1999) with one another and how basic maths concepts (Ma,1999) can be used in something so far removed from the four walls of the classroom. I think it was a simple enough idea to carry out with a future upper stage class which would highlight the resourcefulness of maths in the context of wider society. I believe that it would show the relevance of how we can take these concepts that we are learning within a school and how they can be adapted for future use which will promote engagement and benefit their development of mathematic principals as opposed to ‘working from a textbook’.

Lipping, M (1999). Knowing and teaching elementary mathematics: teachers’ understanding of fundamental mathematics in China and the United States. New York and London: Routledge.

I decided to challenge myself with regards to the maths assessment questions, which can be accessed through the link below. Having been out of formal education now for 7-8 years I wanted to see what I had obtained from the maths classroom and what was quite frankly wasted on myself. During my schooling years there were often days where I would sit in maths and really enjoy it and then there were days where I would feel myself tensing up and thinking why do I put myself through this? I feel this is a very common attitude shared my many individuals!

If you follow the link below you will see a range of different maths problems underlining different maths principles; I worked my way through these questions and the result was a bit of a shock, considering my maths ability was never an issue. I would never say that I was ‘great’ at maths but how can a large area of my childhood that I had to endure from near enough  primary 1 right through until Higher level have become a mind blank now?

The questions that I was able to answer quickly and confidently were the ones concerning the principals of :

• Percentages
• simple addition and subtraction
• Graphs
• Distances and converting units
• time

However, I struggled with the questions dealing with:

• Angles
• Symmetry
• terms such as ‘mean’ and ‘prime’ numbers
• Formulas
• Shapes and calculating their areas

After having completed the test and taking the time to reflect on my performance it has become very apparent that the areas that I coped well with are principles of mathematics that I am using frequently, even having been out of ‘education’ for some time.

For example;

• I use percentages when I go shopping; by working out the new price if there is a sale on or when I am using my student card and I am lucky to get ‘10%’ off the original price.
• I am using simple addition and subtraction daily when it comes to calculating money and expenses for when I travel to University or even something as simple as buying lunch each day.
• I am being exposed to graphs continuously on the news at night or even in newspapers so I am able to stay familiar with the data they are presenting and the concepts.
• Distance is not alien to myself, as a driver, I am constantly reading road signs and calculating the distance if I am driving to a new destination using google maps and quite often I am having to convert units from meters to kilometres/miles and so forth.
• Time is something that is continuously being utilised whether that is setting my alarm at night and calculating how much sleep I am going to get or calculating what time of train I need to get in the mornings to make sure I am on time for university.

I am constantly using these principles of maths, perhaps not at the same level as they were in the test, but because I am being exposed to these regularly they do not seem as daunting and I was able to approach them without feeling like I have to turn on my maths brain. This goes to show that because they hold relevance in my life with regards to past times that I enjoy for example shopping, driving or going out for lunch/dinner I have not viewed them as the maths procedures that they are. I was oblivious as to how maths really does surround us in most things we do. I think that if maths was used highlighted like this in classrooms more, especially within the secondary sector, the engagement of pupils would rocket as they could see the resourcefulness of the subject.

If you look at the principles of maths that I was a tad rusty with, it is areas that I am clearly not using now in my adult life, because I’m not required to. Such areas are calculating shapes and their volumes and working out angles. This could be a requirement for some individuals career choices, therefore, I can’t speak for everyone. All I can conclude from the findings of this test is that these areas which I can’t see relevance in (due to not having to use them with regards to my current lifestyle) I certainly found daunting and it left me with the mindset of; was this a waste of my time at school and were they just taught for my assessment purposes?

https://my.dundee.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/pid-4364108-dt-content-rid-2300278_2/courses/ED11010_CAS_D65_201314/OMA%20Workshop%20activity%20questions%202012-13.doc

Every day there seems to be a new health warning regarding what you should and shouldn’t eat or certain products you should or shouldn’t use. Gone are the days where you can switch on the news or pick up a newspaper and be faced with success stories or even positive headlines in general.

 How are these health warnings presented to us?

 Well, what catches your eye?

 Long-winded sentences comprising of facts encrypted with medical terms or short snappy phrases, which can more often than not contradict the main point of the whole article. Yes, it goes without saying it is the second option. As a nation, we are continuously exposed to a number of short snappy statistics.

 Statistic – “The practice or science of collecting and analysing numerical data in large quantities”. (Oxford dictionary)

 The danger with this process of advertisement is statistics can be very deceiving and people do not pay attention to the context, just the numbers (tvtropes). (But is the carefully calculated number figure being presented the only maths principal?) For example in order for a statistic to hold any accountability, data has to be collected concerning different variables, take yoghurt advertising as a perfect example. We are constantly exposed to adverts raving about the latest yoghurt consisting of “0% fat and only 99 calories” so you are immediately under the illusion it is a healthier option as a snack. So we jump on the bandwagon as we can snack on this product ‘guilt free’, however over time, start to get frustrated that you are not losing the weight like you would assume now that you are ‘leading a healthier lifestyle’. Perhaps because the statistic which drew you in to buy the product failed to mention that the yoghurt is still laden with sugar, hence why it still tastes so good. It completely contradicts the words that were once used to describe this product i.e healthy. Consumers were instantly drawn in with the clever use of numbers and perhaps are not knowledgeable about the remaining contents, which will prevent them from enjoying a ‘healthy snack.’

 In simpler terms, do we need to have a ‘Profound Understanding of Health Care?‘

With regards to what we are eating, feeling and actively doing to keep fit. In order to stay remotely with what we perceive as ‘healthy’, we need to take statistics with a pinch of salt, until we have the conceptual knowledge and evidence of the data gathered to establish the statistic in the first place. So we can understand and process the real message behind the product advertisement.

You could relate this to Lipping Ma’s research of having a ‘Profound Understanding of Fundamental Mathematics’ by having

• “multiple perspectives” (Ma,1999:122)-  Being aware of the different approaches to establishing this statistic in the first place and take into consideration of the different variables that would have had to be tested to come to the final figure that is being promoted.
• “Basic Ideas” (Ma,1999:122) – Knowing the components of the statistic or in simpler terms the ingredients essential to making this product so you can make an informed judgement before you rush out to buy what you think is a ‘healthy snack’.

           “I never believe in statistics unless I’ve forged them myself!”- Winston Churchill.

Stevenson, A (2003). Oxford Dictionary of English. London : Oxford University Press

Lipping, M (1999). Knowing and teaching elementary mathematics: teachers’ understanding of fundamental mathematics in China and the United States. New York and London: Routledge. 122.

The general feeling expressed towards mathematics is an anxious/negative one (Chinn,2012) whether that is expressed at school age or even among adults.

                                                But why is this?

Is it because there is too much emphasis on maths being very formula/number based. This could be a result of the process of rote learning which I’m sure we have all endured throughout our school years. Having to  memorise endless formulas until they hopefully become automatic and then having to apply them to numerous mind-numbing sums/problems. Hearing yourself say “when will I ever have to use this when I am older?!”

 Understandably, it is clear to see why maths can leave children unmotivated and disconnected with regards to the learning involved. Luckily for myself, I was one of the few in my class who strangely enjoyed maths. Being an individual who craves immediate feedback, maths always fulfilled this need by having only the one answer, you knew if you had got it right or wrong and could break down where you went wrong, but not always why you went wrong. This contrasts with the likes of the literature side of the curriculum, where there are multiple answers/ways of thinking about a scenario which I could never fully divulge in.

 The other common stigma which is attached to maths when at school, especially present within the secondary sector, is the focus being predominately on “pushing for excellence….passing tests” (Skemp,1986:123). It is very grade related and assessment driven with the way in which the curriculum is taught. The importance of how and why you have used a certain formula or procedure is often overlooked. Therefore, the learning becomes very procedural and not conceptual which former teacher and principal in China, Lipping Ma agrees with (1999).

Have we forgotten about the why and the how in maths?

 Upon leaving school it is very apparent that I have not used a great deal of maths (that i am aware of) and I am left feeling a great disconnection and confidence with the mathematical side of the curriculum, this was highlighted when I was out on my previous placement. I feel that any sort of relevance within the maths material that was being proposed to myself at school was never properly highlighted in terms of how I could use the skills in the future.Therefore, my attitude towards the subject has remained very stagnant, I think that by choosing to study ‘Discovering Mathematics’ i will hopefully have my eyes opened to the wonders and power that maths holds and how important it is and can be utilized within everyday life. Hopefully, from this understanding,  my appreciation will grow and I will be able to reflect this mindset to future generations.

 Chinn, S (2012). More trouble with maths: A complete manual to identifying and diagnosing mathematical difficulties. London and New York: Routledge

Skemp, R (1986). Psychology of learning mathematics. London: Routledge. 123.

Lipping, M (1999). Knowing and teaching elementary mathematics: teachers’ understanding of fundamental mathematics in China and the United States. New York and London: Routledge.