Mathematics education is hard, in part because the skills it takes to understand mathematics and to teach mathematics are actually quite different. In addition, once grasped, many mathematical ideas switch in an instant… Continue reading
This is a post for the Edgeryders conference that I will be visiting in a little over a week. It is also available on that site. We have many problems in education, and… Continue reading
If you study the history of modern mathematics one of the recurring themes is the collapse of the foundations. A realisation that the assumptions underlying a topic were not as strong as might… Continue reading
I hate being wrong, ask anyone in my family, they will get that slightly weary look and agree (and I am not the only one). I have tried to counter this by learning… Continue reading
A friend of mine, Rohit Gupta (@fadesingh) has been doing some of the most creative mathematics communication out there. Using myths, stories, puzzles and poetry he has been making deep questions of mathematics… Continue reading
The rule This post is not trying to do anything clever. It is making a statement that seems self-evident: There are three ways to gain understanding of the world: Personal experience Systems of… Continue reading
For years the mathematics books at Foyles bookshop in London had their own room. It was a strange place, to the uninitiated inexplicably yellow. It had its own quirks rules and legends. There… Continue reading
I have a weird collection of skills. Mathematics, talking about mathematics, art, making… I am certainly missing opportunities, maybe because few know the skill set even exists! So its time to advertise myself.… Continue reading
We have all sat in lectures, looking around to wonder if anyone is still able to follow. In writing a talk it is often hard to judge the right standard, and in general… Continue reading
Thanks to the move to the US, my son has a new piano teacher. He is playing at an advanced level, beyond grade 8 (for the UK audience), with pieces by Bach, Mozart… Continue reading
A twitter discussion this morning with Ian Hopkinson (@smallcasserole) Rory Duncan (@HardyDuncan) and Mary Wombat (@little_mavis), led me to try to formulate what I think about the relationship between education and research. There… Continue reading
[This is a painful post to write and probably to read, I attempt to soften the blow by including some geometric construction projects I have been working on!] I write this as a… Continue reading
