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Presentations now available
Recordings of all presentations made at the Mathematical Thinking Workshop are available online.
Keynote Speakers
Professor Alexandre Borovik (School of Mathematics, University of Manchester)
Professor Peter Bryant (Department of Psychology, Oxford Brookes University)
Professor Marcus Giaquinto (Department of Philosophy & Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, University College London)
Professor Terezinha Nunes (Department of Educational Studies, University of Oxford)
Professor David Tall (Institute of Education, University of Warwick)
The full list of speakers is given below.
Rationale: The Interdisciplinary Study of Mathematical Thinking
In recent years there has been a growing recognition amongst curriculum bodies and teachers that the goal of an education in mathematics should be to develop students' mathematical thinking skills, and not merely to (attempt to) transmit mathematical knowledge to them. But if developing mathematical thinking is the aim of mathematics education, it is surely crucial to have a detailed understanding of the processes that are involved in mathematical thought.
The central question we seek to address is this: what are learners (to be interpreted broadly) doing when they are doing mathematics?
This question has traditionally been approached by researchers from (at least) four different disciplines:
Educators have studied how students understand, and how they can be encouraged to understand, mathematical concepts.
Psychologists have studied the cognitive processes by which students engage with numerical and mathematical problems.
Philosophers and historians of mathematics have considered the practices and epistemologies of research mathematicians.
Mathematicians have produced introspective reports on the nature of their work.
To date these disparate communities have tended to stay relatively isolated. We see an opportunity for the emergence of an interdisciplinary field to consider the nature of mathematical thought, and to bring our different research methodologies and traditions to bear on the same question: what are people doing when they are doing mathematics?
The aim of the workshop is to bring together representatives from each of the four disciplines which are interested in mathematical thinking. The main goal is to share the findings and ideas from the various disciplines, and to identify whether there are areas where we would benefit from an interdisciplinary approach.
Workshop Format
The workshop will consist of keynote talks, a plenary panel discussion and a number of contributed presentations. We would therefore welcome participants who would like to deliver a talk which attempts to characterise (some aspect of) mathematical thinking, from their own disciplinary perspective or an interdisciplinary approach. Talks should either describe current research, give an overview of a programme of research, or give personal views on what the important unresolved questions are about the nature of mathematical thinking.
The deadline for submission of abstracts has now passed. The full list of speakers is given below. A draft programme is available here.
Keynote Talks:
Alexandre Borovik (Manchester)
Mathematical thinking as experienced by a mathematician.
Peter Bryant (Oxford Brookes)
The importance of relations in children's mathematical development.
Marcus Giaquinto (UCL)
The importance of visual thinking in mathematics.
Terezinha Nunes (Oxford)
Are fractions too difficult for primary school children?
David Tall (Warwick)
How individuals develop mathematical thinking.
Contributed Talks:
Patrick Barmby, Tony Harries & Steve Higgins (Durham)
Representational-reasoning model of understanding: Implications and applying it to multiplication.
Darina Jirotkova (Charles Univ Prague) & Graham Littler (Derby)
The concept building process in 3D geometry.
Sergiy Klymchuk (Auckland Univ of Technology)
Popularising mathematical thinking: A personal experience.
Ladislav Kvasz (Charles Univ Prague / Comenius)
On the interplay of symbolic and iconic representations in mathematical thinking.
Daniela Rudloff (Leicester)
Supporting arguments with statistical information.
Zbigniew Semadeni (Warsaw)
Deep intuition as a level in the development of the concept image in D. Tall's three worlds of mathematics.
Ruth Stavy, Dina Tirosh & Reuven Babai (Tel Aviv)
Brain activity during problem solving in geometry.
Anne R. Teppo (Bozeman) & Marja van den Heuvel-Panhuizen (Utrecht / Humboldt)
Mathe-didactical analysis; a crucial component of task design.
Anne Watson (Oxford)
Mathematical thinking in adolescence: Possible shifts of perspective.
Oleksiy Yevdokimov (Southern Queensland)
On some characteristics of mathematical thinking in advanced problem solving.
Venue and Timings
The Workshop will take place at the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) on the Jubilee Campus of the University of Nottingham.
For directions to the NCSL, see their website. There is free onsite car parking.
Registration will start at 10.00 on 21st November, and the last session will finish by 4.45 on 22nd November. A draft programme is available here.
Participants may also be interested in attending the NCETM Grants Conference, which takes place on 20th November in Birmingham. Details can be found at the NCETM's website.
Registration
The deadline for registration is 9th November. The (cost price) registration fee for the workshop is £40. This covers registration, lunch and refreshment breaks throughout the event. There is an additional fee of £25 if you wish to attend the conference dinner.
Registration is now closed.
Contact
For further details please contact Camilla Gilmore or Matthew Inglis.
Postal address:
Mathematical Thinking Workshop
Learning Sciences Research Institute
Exchange Building
University of Nottingham
Jubilee Campus, Wollaton Road
Nottingham, NG8 1BB, UK.