At the August Maths Jam, we in Nottingham were joined by a reporter from BBC Radio Nottingham’s breakfast show, who wanted to know what we were all about. A feature was broadcast last Friday. You can listen to this for a very limited time at: Andy Whittaker, Friday 2nd September. The Maths Jam section starts at 1 hour 56 minutes and lasts for about 3 minutes.
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A brisk trade in souvenir mugs
Readers of this blog may be aware that my local maths history comes much in the form of George Green, a local miller and mathematician (indeed it is a George Green mug I am drinking from in the Math/Maths Podcast album art). I noticed the following passage in the introduction to the Proceedings of the 1990 Undergraduate Mathematics Teaching Conference written by Ken Houston:
George Green (1793-1841) who discovered “Green’s Theorem” was a miller in the village of Sneinton (now part of the City of Nottingham). Recently the windmill has been restored to working order and a visitor’s centre has been built beside it. Our conference trip was a visit to Green’s windmill and the mill centre. After our tour of the windmill and the centre there was a brisk trade in souvenir mugs and no doubt many undergraduate students of vector analysis will hear about Green’s mill next session.
Unexpected GCSE Success at Your Local School
There were jubilant scenes yesterday (Thursday) with the long wait finally over for students across Your Town who received their GCSE results. Students at Your Local School are basking in glory after achieving set of eye-catching results.
Boys bucked the national trend, performing better than girls by 5 per cent.
Top performer at Your Local School was teenager Top Pupil (16), who acheived a clean-sweep of A* grades, including Maths and English. She said “It’s hard to describe the feeling really. It’s fantastic.”
Now Top, who hopes to become a vet, will go to Your Local College to study for A Levels. She also plays the clarinet, and has recently been on tour with the Country Youth Orchestra.
At Your Local School, a stunning 92 per cent of students picked up five or more A* to C marks, hot on the heels of last week’s 96 per cent A-level pass rate.
These results are among the best in the country.
Head teacher Robert Teacher, due to retire after today’s results and 18 years in charge, was buoyed by the students’ success, saying: “I’m very pleased. The pressure on them now is far greater than it ever used to be since they are under pressure all the time, but these are the best results we’ve ever had.”
The national A*-C pass rate rose for the 23rd year in a row, figures show.
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Second-Rate Minds
For writing practice, Samuel Hansen and I are collaborating on a new blog, Second-Rate Minds. We take the name from a quote from the beginning of A Mathematician’s Apology by G.H. Hardy (1940):
There is no scorn more profound, or on the whole more justifiable, than that of the men who make for the men who explain. Exposition, criticism, appreciation, is work for second-rate minds.
We plan to alternately write short pieces on and around mathematics and edit each others writing. I wrote the first post, “Moving on a strange diagonal“, a write-up of my 2010 Maths Jam Conference talk about a puzzle and my thoughts on its use in education. Expect future posts at roughly two a month. If you want to keep up with future posts there is an RSS feed and a Twitter account.
From Our Own Mathematics Correspondent
You may remember I contributed a piece last month to the Pod Delusion Podcast on the unplanned impact initiative. Well, this week I’ve done it a second piece. This is becoming a habit.
The Pod Delusion describes itself as
a weekly news magazine podcast about interesting things. From politics, to science to culture and philosophy, it’s commentary from a secular, rationalist, skeptical, somewhat lefty-liberal, sort of perspective. A bit like From Our Own Correspondent but with more jokes.
This time my item is about the recent report of the Vorderman taskforce into mathematics education. You may remember I wrote a recent blog post on this topic, ‘People may not like Vorderman, but her report?‘ This piece covers similar ground but in audio and with a couple of days more experience. Plus you can hear me make the “spelling/grammar/literature, arithmetic/algebra/mathematics” argument.
What about the rest of episode 98 (19th August 2011)?
We speak to Craig Reucassel from The Chasers about why satirists should be allowed to use Parliamentary footage, find out about our care footprints, and find out why the arms trade is like slavery (and other cheerful stuff like that).
In the introduction to my piece (starts at 08:45), host James O’Malley describes me as the Pod Delusion’s “mathematics correspondent”. Does that mean there’ll be further contributions (and that I’ve been type-cast)? We’ll see.
Hot research question: Do mathematicians like pizza?
I took part in a fun exchange on Twitter this afternoon. I’m preserving it here because Twitter tends to lose these things.
Anyway, go and fill in Alison’s survey! It really is only two questions and is just a bit of fun.
(By the way, do you remember the 2010 Pizza Hut ad campaign “People love pizza – they don’t love math!”? I wonder if this is what Alison is really researching…)
ajk_44 Alison Kiddle
Thought I’d collect some data. Fill it in, feel free to share it, and I’ll blog the findings if there are any. bit.ly/nuXt2i
ajk_44 Alison Kiddle
I should point out that it’s a very quick survey and will probably take you less than 15 seconds to fill in. bit.ly/nuXt2i
ColinTheMathmo Colin Wright
I’ve filled in @ajk_44‘s survey – it took less than 15 seconds. bit.ly/nuXt2i
Tony_Mann Tony Mann
Took me longer – Q1 is complicated. RT @ColinTheMathmo I’ve filled in @ajk_44‘s survey – it took less than 15 seconds. bit.ly/nuXt2i
peterrowlett Peter Rowlett
.@Tony_Mann @ColinTheMathmo @ajk_44 I agree with Tony. Probably took me 20 seconds.
ajk_44 Alison Kiddle
@peterrowlett @Tony_Mann I owe you each 5 seconds then, I’m sorry for the false advertising. And thanks for filling it in!
plusmathsorg Plus Magazine
@ajk_44 I think the results will be ground-breaking!
ajk_44 Alison Kiddle
@plusmathsorg early indications are that almost everyone likes pizza, and that the vast majority of people are mathematicians.
peterrowlett Peter Rowlett
2 question, 15 sec survey. Please fill in bit.ly/nuXt2i RT @ajk_44: early indications: vast majority of people are mathematicians.
Tony_Mann Tony Mann
@peterrowlett @ajk44 Majority of respondents may be mathematicians but survey doesn’t ask if they are people rather than, say, hyenas
ajk_44 Alison Kiddle
@Tony_Mann drat. It’s too late for me to add a “What species are you” question. I don’t think I’ll be able to get any meaningful results.
peterrowlett Peter Rowlett
“Academic questions @ajk_44‘s research findings” RT @Tony_Mann: Majority of respondents may be … but survey doesn’t ask if they are people
plusmathsorg Plus Magazine
Ground breaking study finds that most people are mathematicians (and like pizza) bit.ly/nuXt2i
peterrowlett Peter Rowlett
Now the media present @ajk_44‘s initial result as final before all data collected! Terrible! RT @plusmathsorg Ground breaking study finds…
ajk_44 Alison Kiddle
I’d intended to use Twitter for data gathering for my Masters thesis next year. This afternoon may have damaged my academic credibility :-)
plusmathsorg Plus Magazine
@peterrowlett @ajk_44 We are acting in the public interest.
Tony_Mann Tony Mann
@PeterRowlett Unfair! You put out press release tweet reporting hearsay @ajk_44‘s results and then blame media @plusmathsorg for reporting
peterrowlett Peter Rowlett
@Tony_Mann I don’t think it’s for @ajk_44 & I to communicate findings clearly. It’s up to the media @plusmathsorg to understand researchers.
Update (19/08/11):
plusmathsorg Plus Magazine
@peterrowlett @Tony_Mann @ajk_44 If public are all mathematicians they must know before it’s too late. Waiting for end of study is unethical
Tony_Mann Tony Mann
.@plusmathsorg @peterrowlett Since when did press care about ethics? Obviously study has Research Ethics Committee approval so up to @ajk_44
ajk_44 Alison Kiddle
@Tony_Mann @plusmathsorg @peterrowlett what are ethics?
peterrowlett Peter Rowlett
@ajk_44 wait, what ARE you doing with all this sensitive, lucrative pizza/mathematician data?
ajk_44 Alison Kiddle
@peterrowlett creating a business plan to open a multi-million pound mathematical pizza shop :-)
peterrowlett Peter Rowlett
Thought I was supporting science but @ajk_44 is collecting data for a multi-million £ maths pizza shop! Don’t fill in bit.ly/nuXt2i !
Tony_Mann Tony Mann
@ajk_44 @peterrowlett since your data are public everyone else will be doing business plans too so better rush
People may not like Vorderman, but her report?
The Conservative Party have published a report, “A world-class mathematics education for ALL our young people”. The initial reaction I saw on Twitter was very negative, entirely directed to Carol Vorderman’s personality characteristics and her qualification to chair such a study. On Monday when I tweeted a link to the report @slewth asked, “I mis-read that as the Voldermort report. Did I do wrong?” My reply: “Indistinguishable, from the Twitter reaction I’ve seen”. But what about what is actually in the report?
There are positive responses to this report from representatives of the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education (ACME), Mathematics in Education and Industry (MEI), Confederation of British Industry (CBI) & the Wellcome Trust given in the Conservative website news story announcing the publication.
There is also a positive response from the Royal Society on its website, “Royal Society response to the Vorderman report on mathematics education“. The Institute of Mathematics and its Applications (IMA) published a press release, “The Vorderman report recognising mathematics is critically important“, responding positively. The IMA Twitter feed (to which I contribute but not this post) said the report “highlights importance of @IMAmaths CMath and CMathTeach qualifications (pg. 84)”. The Royal Statistical Society published a statement, “Britain will benefit from moves to boost young people’s ability with numbers, says Royal Statistical Society“, again “warmly welcoming” the report.
There are certainly others, and I don’t propose a complete collection, the point is I haven’t been able to find an organisation saying negative things. I spoke to Martin Smith, who works for the Advisory Committee for Mathematics Education (ACME), via Twitter and he agreed, “Nope! Messages are very similar to ACME“. Although the name at the top of the report is Carol Vorderman, there are four group members and two research assistants listed. The two group members and one research assistant that I know I respect very well.
Still, a lot of the chatter I’ve seen on Twitter has been negative.
A lot is made of the qualifications of Carol Vorderman to carry out the investigation. The Times Higher Education refers to the taskforce “led by TV presenter Carol Vorderman” and the Sun, with characteristic charm, refers to “TV sums whiz Carol Vorderman“. Both seem to be denigrating (or perhaps I’m just reading that into it).
I don’t like when people say she’s “a brilliant mathematician“. I don’t know what she’s like at mathematics (is there some evidence of this I’m missing?). I know she’s said to be very quick at mental arithmetic (accidentally confessing to not watching Countdown, oops) and I think people saying she’s a mathematician are misunderstanding what mathematics is.
Much is made of her third class engineering degree. I don’t think it’s fair to say that what qualification a person did over 30 years ago should have any effect on what they do now. People are also critical of products she endorses.
Still, not much of this has anything to do with the report or its recommendations. I’m not interested in Carol Vorderman as a person. I’m interested in content of the report and its recommendations, and more particularly, what Government will do about them. (There’s an ambiguity there: the report was commissioned for the Conservative Party when in opposition, so it isn’t a report of this coalition government.)
Put up as key headlines by the Conservatives in their news release about this:
– report argues: “A child’s mathematical ‘career’ is effectively determined by the age of 11”;
– recommends compulsory maths in some form until the age of 18, replacing the present GCSE maths system with one offering two GCSEs and improving the mathematics subject knowledge and confidence of primary school teachers and new trainees.
Notes from the executive summary (incl. probable omissions and errors):
Policy and regulation:
– define maths as ‘subject of critical importance status’ & exempt it from statutory blanket regulations which are applied across all subjects;
– involve higher & further education and employers in school-level education;
– greater attention paid to students who “are deemed to ‘fail'”, system should account for different needs of these students;
– relax regulation to allow for innovative practice;
– some form of mathematics education for all students to 18, “merely to bring us into line with the rest of the developed world (with whom we compete economically)”;
– “major changes” in the working methods of Ofqual and Ofsted;
– exam boards to act collectively.
Curriculum and assessment:
– as well as daily maths lessons, primary school children should practice number work in other areas of their daily routine;
– financial numeracy within the curriculum;
– end Key Stage 2 National Test (SAT) in its current form as it is a bureaucratic system of accountability which is detrimental to children’s mathematical education;
– the new National Curriculum should not predetermine teaching methods or the chronology of learning;
– the present system of one GCSE is not suitable for such a diverse cohort, offer two (as exists for English Language and English Literature);
– reward students who achieve a higher standard in a smaller area of the curriculum, rather than a low standard across a much wider curriculum;
– no changes to present AS and A levels, it is not intended that all students take AS and A level mathematics;
– support FMSP.
Teachers:
– improve subject knowledge and confidence of primary school teachers and new trainees (including requiring B at GCSE for new primary school initial teacher training);
– status of secondary specialist mathematics teacher better defined, ring-fence funding for CPD of these teachers;
– review teacher CPD to ensure it is cost-effective.
Parents:
– help offered to parents with their maths skills.
Universities:
– cap on undergraduate numbers in mathematics is in conflict with need for more specialist mathematics teachers so Government inter-departmental cooperation is needed, calls for university mathematics departments to “be allowed to take on all suitably qualified school leavers”;
– many other university departments (incl. STEM, economics, social sciences, nursing, computer science “and many more”) should return to requiring A level mathematics or increase their mathematics requirement.
Even if you don’t read the report there’s an interesting diagram on page 11 (page 19 of the electronic document) which might be worth looking at.
So what do people think? I’ve seen a few newspaper articles that basically report the key recommendations as the Conservative website does. I’ve seen a few blog posts agreeing with the recommendations, for example this post “Numeracy” by Athene Donald is being passed around Twitter. Anthony Seldon, Master of Wellington College, writes an opinion piece in the Independent: “A maths challenge we must answer“.
What about dissenting voices? These are few and far between, as far as I can see. Kevin Houston blogs to say the main problem with the two headline recommendations about compulsory maths to 18 and two types of GCSE: shortage of teachers. He sees the latter of these as more likely, as these students are already being taught mathematics but wonders where the extra teachers will come from to teach the extra students from 16-18. However, the report says both must go together, and blames in part the lack of these for the shortage of teachers and lower skills of primary teachers that are causing many of the problems highlighted. Kevin’s post has an interesting analogy starting “What would I have recommended?” that is worth reading.
A blog post at fullfact.org questions the reports use of the OECD data on international comparisons of mathematics education. The blog Political Scrapbook points out that the report praises private tuition in other countries and is concerned about the conflict of interest because Carol runs an online private tuition company.
I asked for views on Twitter or Google+ on the actual report content, rather than Carol’s credentials. Not many were forthcoming. Sharon Evans would like to see the report recommendations “work out okay” but is concerned that governments tend to change policy too often. Sharon says, “What is needed is sustainment of policy so that things have a chance to settle down as change cannot happen or be measurable overnight and we shouldn’t expect it to be.” Peter Price, writing as an outsider (he’s lived in Australia since he was 13), points out that many similar issues are faced in Australia and agrees with the recommendations “almost 100%”. He highlights recommendations around maths education for would-be Primary school teachers, bureaucratic monitoring of the system and resultant so-called ‘teaching to the test’ and he regards “idea that all school leavers should have completed mathematics study to 18 years” as “pretty essential”.
So what will Government do to act on the report and its recommendations? Only time will tell.