No, this is not that 21st century skills crap that people keep trying to sell us. It is learning something about 21st century mathematics, as invented/discovered by 21st century mathematicians.
Justin Lanier is an American (forgive him), a former schoolteacher and now a postdoc at the University of Sydney. For the last couple of years, Justin has organised a Zoom program, 21st century mathematics. The goal of the program is to enable school teachers, and pretty much anyone, to listen to and virtual-meet and learn from mathematicians involved in the business of proving theorems. This year, Justin’s program will take place in July.
We don’t know Justin but this seems like a very good thing. Maybe not the kind of thing that gets to the roots of our maths ed ills, but it certainly cannot hurt. Justin’s program is also free (small donation to worthy cause suggested), which is an infinity per cent saving on, for instance, Pete or Ollie and his mate.
Justin has a lot of details and a video and links on his main program page, and some key links are below. It seems good. Let us know.
The 2024 website and show bag
Thanks Marty for this information. Teachers should also look out for the videos posted on YouTube by Derek Muller (born in Australia) who has a website called Veritasium with a similar breadth in topics.
One of the downsides of the current emphasis on curriculum and testing is that it eats up time at school where kids can be exposed to the wider world of science and mathematics, not only through video but also through some expository books that kids can be encouraged to read and write reviews on. Back in the 1950s, a similar role was play by the Moody films on science that could be occasionally screened in class or schools broadcasts on the radio that were sometimes played during a class period. Another possibility is in visits to science and mathematics museums of which there is an increasing number in various parts of the world.
Thanks, Ed. Veritasium is here. There are, of course, many sites around now, some better and some worse. The thing with Lanier’s program is it is live-connecting teachers with working mathematicians.
I don’t know that this kind of thing is less now, although it may be less effective. I am not worried about an emphasis on curriculum. I am concerned that the curriculum is poor, the students do not have the solidity of knowledge or reason to appreciate much of anything. To that end, I don’t think Lanier’s thing is the thing. But it still seems like a very good thing.
Thanks for sharing, Marty. It looks very interesting. I checked Justin’s website and found an excerpt from the book ’21 Century Math’. This is very interesting and certainly can provide a nice topic for a discussion with maths-oriented kids.
Click to access theoremsofthe21stcenturyexcerptfinal.pdf
Sounds interesting, I have registered. Thanks
Hi Marty! Thanks very much for the shout-out.
Some of my main goals with the program are to help more teachers to be mathematically nourished and connected and to give them new perspectives on their subject and their place (and their students’ place) within it. Most teacher participants report not having any prior experience or encounters with research mathematics; my own encounters with advanced and research mathematics when I was a teacher were both personally meaningful and impactful for the teaching and learning that happened in my classroom. I sought these experiences out, but was also fortunate in many respects, especially in that I lived in highly math resourced locations (e.g. NYC and Boston), whereas in most places enriching math experiences for teachers are hard to come by (or are self-study, which is hard to come by for other reasons). And I feel sure that limited math experiences for teachers puts limitations on the classroom experiences they can foster for their students.
All that to say that there are lots of ways that math education experiences could be improved for teachers and learners, and no program or initiative is a cure-all, certainly. But I do see “21st century mathematics” as addressing some of these challenges near their source, and I design the program with that aim in mind. I hope that comes through!
Thanks again. Several folks have signed up for the program by way of your post. I’ll let them report back. (:
Thanks, Justin. I like to say nice things; I just don’t often see the opportunity. And yes, I think the intent and the value of what you are doing is very clear. I’m pleased that some guys from here have signed up.