Departmental Colloquium
Naomi Fisher
UIC
Mathematicians and Education Reform: A Cautionary Tale
Abstract: In the 1980s mathematics education gained national prominence once again. Two
events-- the 1986 Tulane Conference on calculus reform, and the 1989 publication
of NCTM's Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics leading to
the development of reform K-12 curricula-- have had extensive influence on
mathematics education. In this period, too, the Mathematicians and Education
Reform (MER) Forum, then the MER Network, was organized in 1988.
The vision of founding Co-Directors, Harvey Keynes, University of Minnesota, and
Philip Wagreich, University of Illinois at Chicago, for meetings of
mathematicians engaged in pre-college education, grew to include pre-college,
undergraduate, and graduate education. MER has been a continuing presence in
the mathematics community through more than 30 national workshops and annual
special sessions on Mathematics and Education Reform, and its publications.
Viewed from the speaker's 18 years experience in MER, this talk looks at the
history of MER, and discusses lessons learned. Some questions considered are:
why is it important for mathematicians to be involved in the mathematics
education enterprise? how can mathematicians contribute effectively to
education? what has changed, since the 1980s, and what has not?
Friday March 31, 2006 at 3:00 PM in SEO 636