Peter Huckstep

Developing primary mathematics teaching : reflecting on practice with the Knowledge Quartet

This book helps readers to become better, more confident teachers of mathematics by enabling them to focus critically on what they know and what they do in the classroom. Building on their close observation of primary mathematics classrooms, the authors provide those starting out in the teaching profession with a four-stage framework which acts as a tool of support for developing their teaching: -Making sense of foundation knowledge – focusing on what teachers know about mathematics -Transforming knowledge – representing mathematics to learners through examples, analogies, illustrations, and demonstrations -Connection – helping learners to make sense of mathematics through understanding how ideas and concepts are linked to each other -Contingency – what to do when the unexpected happens Each chapter includes practical activities, lesson descriptions, and extracts of classroom transcripts to help teachers reflect on effective practice. Video versions of these lessons are also available on a companion website.

`Creative mathematics' – real or rhetoric?

The notion of creativity has its natural home in the fine arts, where the artist literally creates something that can be perceived by the senses. The products of mathematical activity are clearly not of this kind, yet some distinguished mathematicians have claimed that mathematics offers considerable scope for creativity. The title of the book under review, and some claims to be found in it, suggest that creativity can indeed be associated with mathematics, and that young children may experience it in the classroom. We suggest that the word ‘creative’ is being used in rather different senses in these different contexts, yet the meanings associated with the arts, say, are in danger of being applied to mathematical situations for rhetorical purposes.

Elevate or relegate? The relative importance of mathematics

The value of any subject on a crowded, contested and compulsory curriculum is, or at least should be, open to debate. More importantly, when different subjects are prioritized over others, the justification for the ranking of such subjects should also be submitted to sustained enquiry. Mathematics enjoys a prestigious place in the English National Curriculum, elsewhere, and perhaps everywhere. There have been several responses, over the last few years, to the question of not only why pupils should be compelled to learn mathematics but also for how long this should continue. This article takes a broad and critical look, from a largely philosophical standpoint, at some of the dominant themes that underlie the most recurrent claims that have been made in defence of the privileged place of mathematics in school.