TSG 7: Mathematics education in and for work

Update June 23
 

Team Chairs

Henk van der Kooij, The Freudenthal Institute

Address: P.O. Box 9432, NL-3506 GK Utrecht, The Netherlands

h.vanderkooij@fi.uu.nl

Rudolf Straesser, Department of Mathematics, Luleaa Technical University

Address: S-97187 Luleaa, Sweden

rudolf@sm.luth.se, rudolf.straesser@uni-bielefeld.de

Team Members

Susan Forman, Department of Mathematics and Computer Science, Bronx Community College,

City University of New York, USA

susan.forman@att.net

Jim Ridgway, School of Education, University of Durham, United Kingdom

jim.ridgway@durham.ac.uk

Robyn Zevenbergen, Faculty of Education, Griffith University, Australia

r.zevenbergen@griffith.edu.au 

Aims and Focus

The topic for this study group is Mathematics Education in and for Work. But it does not make sense to discuss education without having a common notion on why and on what mathematics is needed (to prepare for and) in work. Therefore, the first focus of the working group will be to identify general characteristics of the nature of mathematics as it appears in or is needed for work. Those characteristics can be approached from different points of view:

1.  The perspective of occupational standards.
Some keywords: 'broad occupational competences' versus 'highly occupation-specific skills', problem-solving skills, flexibility and quality, transfer, authentic learning
2.  The perspective of Information and Communication Technology
Some keywords: artefacts, simulation, spreadsheets, data, breakdown
3.  The perspective of pedagogy
Some keywords: situated learning, situated abstraction, authentic learning
4.   Quantitative literacy
Some keywords: mathematical literacy, overarching concepts (PISA framework), mathematics in context

The last two perspectives already indicate the second focus of the topic study group: The group will also look into teaching and learning of mathematics at work, in classrooms and other settings if teaching and learning are oriented to prepare for work-place related situations. The overall aim of the topic study group should be to discuss the consequences of the above-mentioned characteristics for the nature of mathematics and its education in and for work.

Practical Information

For participants:
Because there are three presenters per session, each one has only 15 minutes to present the paper and 5 minutes for discussion. They will be asked to give a short outline, followed by a good example and finishing with one or two important statements based on their full paper. For that reason, you are strongly advised to download the papers and read them before you come to the sessions.
The final session has no presentations, but all issues raised during the first three sessions will be presented (as statements) and discussed by a panel and the participants

New: all available Powerpoint presentations (and one Word document) are added in the programme. See below; click PP .

Programme

Papers and Discussion Documents
 
Professor Lynn A. Steen (USA) was invited to present a keynote on Quantitative Literacy, but unfortunatley he is unable to come.
With his permission, we put here two recent papers on that subject. They can serve as discussion documents. Please keep in mind that the permission is only for use in TSG7 of ICME10!

Mathematics and Numeracy: Two Literacies, One Language, Lynn A. Steen

Full papers and abstracts can be downloaded here.For the keynote we only have a short, very promising abstract available:

Abstraction in workplace expertise
Celia Hoyles & Richard Noss
Institute of Education, University of London

This presentation draws on several research projects that span a variety of working practices, in which we have examined how mathematics is used
as part of the practice. We will report on two studies - one with nurses in a paediatric hospital and the other (ongoing) in large manufacturing businesses. The findings from the first studies suggest that rather than being a set of disparate skills, mathematics used at work takes the form of well-connected situated abstractions, where abstraction is expressed by means of the tools and artefacts of the practice and relies on shared workplace knowledge
and discourse. We will also introduce our latest research on 'techno-mathematical literacies' as used in computationally-rich 'modern workplaces.

Full papers:

A perspective on numeracy (quantitative literacy); Thornton and Hogan

A Vision of the Mathematics Needs of Students in Emerging Technologies; Hovis and Hovis