Colin Foster
Resisting reductionism in mathematics pedagogy
Foster, Colin
Authors
Abstract
Although breaking down a mathematical problem into smaller parts can often be an effective solution strategy, when the same reductionist approach is applied to mathematics pedagogy the effects are far from beneficial for students. Mathematics pedagogy in UK schools is gaining an increasingly reductionist flavour, as seen in an excessive focus on bite-sized learning objectives and a tendency for mathematics teachers to path-smooth their students’ learning. I argue that a reductionist mathematics pedagogy severely restricts students’ opportunities to engage in authentic mathematical thinking and deprives them of the enjoyment of solving richer, more worthwhile problems, which would forge connections across diverse areas of the subject. I attribute the rise of a reductionist mathematics pedagogy partly to an assessment-dominated curriculum and partly to a systemic de-professionalisation of teachers through a performative accountability culture in which they are constantly required to prove to non-specialist managers that they are effective. I argue that pedagogical reductionism in mathematics must be resisted in favour of a more holistic approach, in which students are able to bring a variety of mathematical knowledge and skills to bear on rich, challenging and non-routine mathematical tasks. Some principles for achieving this are outlined and some examples are given.
Citation
Foster, C. (2013). Resisting reductionism in mathematics pedagogy. Curriculum Journal, 24(4), https://doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2013.828630
Journal Article Type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Date | Jan 1, 2013 |
Deposit Date | Apr 15, 2014 |
Publicly Available Date | Apr 15, 2014 |
Journal | The Curriculum Journal |
Electronic ISSN | 0958-5176 |
Publisher | Routledge |
Peer Reviewed | Peer Reviewed |
Volume | 24 |
Issue | 4 |
DOI | https://doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2013.828630 |
Keywords | complexity theory, holism, mathematics curriculum, mathematics education, pedagogy, reductionism, task design, teacher accountability, teacher professionalism |
Public URL | https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1004193 |
Publisher URL | http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/09585176.2013.828630 |
Files
Colin_Fostera--Resisting_reductionism.pdf
(209 Kb)
PDF
Copyright Statement
Copyright information regarding this work can be found at the following address: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
Downloadable Citations
About Repository@Nottingham
Administrator e-mail: discovery-access-systems@nottingham.ac.uk
This application uses the following open-source libraries:
SheetJS Community Edition
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
PDF.js
Apache License Version 2.0 (http://www.apache.org/licenses/)
Font Awesome
SIL OFL 1.1 (http://scripts.sil.org/OFL)
MIT License (http://opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.html)
CC BY 3.0 ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)
Powered by Worktribe © 2024
Advanced Search