Mathematicians for involving researchers to promote subject

Updated on: Sunday, August 22, 2010

Mathematicians across the globe stress the need for involving research mathematicians to bring in more ideas towards proper understanding of the subject and to make it more interesting.

They also suggested on increased contribution of researchers and mathematics professors to school mathematics to bridge the gap between school and university level mathematics, which they said would also ensure an element of continuity.

Participating in a panel discussion on 'Mathematics Education and Popularisation of Mathematics' on day-two of International Congress of Mathematicians (ICM) here, one of the speakers Heinz Steinbring, Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany, said mathematical knowledge as a subject of the discipline and as a subject in school required different interactive ways of approaching.

"Mathematical knowledge cannot be imparted to students as a finished product, but mathematic learning has to be organised more in the way of an active process," he said and stressed on the need for involving professional mathematicians for proper understanding of the subject.

M Ramanujam, a mathematician from the Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai said teachers need to be better trained and equipped with resources such as material, textbooks that would help them in understanding and making the subject more interesting.

"University teachers routinely complain about the quality of student preparation at the entry level and competence in mathematics is often equated with success in competitive examinations. One main reason for this can be attributed to the big gap between mathematics in school classrooms and the practice of live mathematics," he said.

In many countries, people have begun to question the role of mathematics in the compulsory school curriculum and there was a need to give more thought on curriculum, he said.

Chairing the session, T Gowers of the University of Cambridge, UK said what was concrete in school mathematics was abstract when it came as subject at the university-level.

Mathematicians for involving researchers to promote subject

More Education news