The Social Life of Mathematics
C. Bissell (Open University, UK) and H. Mendick (London Metropolitan University and Goldsmiths, London)
This novel session addresses a number of important issues in the learning and practising of mathematics that are currently being investigated by researchers whose background combines mathematics with engineering, psychology, the social sciences and the pedagogy of higher education. Although of great potential interest to all mathematicians and professional users of mathematics – particularly applied mathematicians and engineers – this research is not widely known outside specialist circles. This session will begin to remedy this.
In many countries great concern is being expressed at the decline in the number - and performance - of students in mathematics at both school and university level. At the same time, it is commonplace to hear practitioners in various fields claiming that they use little or none of the mathematics they had to study as part of their professional formation. We expose some social aspects of studying and doing mathematics that we believe not only help understand such attitudes, but are also important for the mathematical community as a whole in order to gain greater insight into what it means to be a mathematician or a user of mathematics. Topics covered include: the nature of professional practice in engineering and other numerate occupations; images of mathematics and mathematicians in the media; and the nature of mathematical social identities and relationships.
Back