MathEd Forum

December 23, 2024

THE FIELDS INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH IN MATHEMATICAL SCIENCES
20th ANNIVERSARY YEAR

FIELDS MATHED FORUM MEETING
(joint meeting with the Fields Cognitive Science Network)

March 23, 2013 at 10 am- 2 pm
Fields Institute,
222 College Street, Toront
o

PROGRAM

10:00 - 10:10am Reports: OAME, OMCA, OCMA, CMESG, CMS, and other.

10:10 am - 11:00 am
Dragana Martinovic (U. of Windsor)
Digital Technologies and Mathematical Minds

Abstract: This talk is about the different roles that technologies have or might have in learning and doing mathematics. Digital technologies extend our bodies and minds, and may serve as powerful educational tools. However, it is not clear how do technologies (digital and other) affect learning and doing of mathematics, how do they shape mathematics discovery and what are their implications for epistemology. Can there be a good fit between digital technologies and mathematical minds?

Biography: Dragana is an Associate Professor and a Research Leadership Chair at the Faculty of Education and a Director of the Human Development Technologies Research Group. In her research, Dragana explores how humans work, learn, and develop with technologies. Specifically to mathematics education, Dragana investigates opportunities and limitations for learning and doing mathematics in educational environments that include various technological means.

11 am - 12:00 pm
Brent Davis (U. of Calgary):
Where Mathematics Curriculum Comes From

Abstract: I look at some of the historical, political, and epistemological influences that have helped to shape programs of study for school mathematics. In the process, I address matters of how those contents of mathematics curricula are selected, how programs of study are developed, why they are so resistant to change, and some of the evolutions to content strands and pedagogy that might be on the horizon.

Biography: Brent Davis is Professor and Distinguished Research Chair in Mathematics Education in the Faculty of Education. Brent is known for his work on the educational relevance of recent developments in the cognitive and complexity sciences. The principal foci of his research are teachers' disciplinary knowledge of mathematics and the sorts of structures and experiences that might support mathematics learning among teachers.

12:00 - 1:00 pm LUNCH BREAK
(Light refreshments provided)

1:00 - 2:00 pm AFTERNOON PROGRAM

1:00 pm - 2:10 pm
Louis H. Kauffman (U. of Chicago):
Logical Connection and Topological Connection

Abstract: Topology began with simple problems like Euler's problem about the Bridges of Konigsburg, and it was discovered that by making a logical and topological image of this structure (the graph as topological graph) one opened up new worlds of mathematics and applications of mathematics. The theme that gave rise to both graph theory and topology was the theme of imaging logical connections in topological structures. This talk will discuss the many aspects in which geometry, topology, diagrams and iconic representations are central to our conceptualization and understanding of mathematics.


Biography: Louis Hirsch Kauffman is a professor in the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer science at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is the founding editor and one of the managing editors of the Journal of Knot Theory and Its Ramifications, and editor of the World Scientific Book Series on Knots and Everything. He writes a column entitled Virtual Logic for the journal Cybernetics and Human Knowing. From 2005 to 2008 he was president of the American Society for Cybernetics.

2:10 pm – 2:30 pm Break and farewell

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