Book offers new theory for teaching and learning mathematics
Dr. G ale R us sell
Dr. Gale Russell is the author of a new book released this summer entitled Transreform Radical Humanism: A Mathematics and Teaching Philosophy( Sense Publishers).
The book is based upon Russell ' s doctoral dissertation in which a methodological collage of auto / ethnography, Gadamerian hermeneutics, and grounded theory was used to analyze a diverse collection of data related to mathematics and the teaching and learning of mathematics. Data considered in the book includes the author’ s evolving relationship with mathematics; the philosophies of mathematics; the“ math wars”; the achievement gap for Indigenous students in mathematics; some of the lessons learned from ethnomathematics; and risk education( as an emerging topic within mathematics curricula).
Foundational to this analysis is a new theoretical framework proposed and implemented by Russell that encompasses an Indigenous worldview and the Traditional Western worldview, acting as a pair of voices( and lenses) that speak to the points of tension, conflict, and possibility found throughout the data. Analysis of the data sets resulted in the emergence of a new theory, the Transreform
Approach to the teaching and learning of mathematics as well as the transreform radical humanistic philosophy of mathematics and teaching.
Within the book, mathematics, the teaching and learning of mathematics, hegemony, and the valuing of different kinds of knowledge and ways of knowing collide, sometimes merge, and most frequently become transformed in ways that hold promise for students, teachers, society, and even mathematics itself. Throughout, the incommensurability of the two worldviews is challenged, and new possibilities emerge. Russell hopes that readers will not just read this work, but will engage with it, exploring the kinds of knowledge and ways of knowing that they value within mathematics and the teaching and learning of mathematics and why.
Photos Credit: Shuana Niessen
The new Faculty of Education Student Services centre, located on the third floor of the Education Building, brings together the faculty and staff from the General Office, the undergraduate Student Program Centre, the Office of Research and Graduate Programs in Education, and the Professional Development and Field Experiences Office, making this a one-stop point of access for students, staff, and faculty. General Administrator Rochelle Fenwick, who oversaw the construction of the new space, says, " Already students, staff and faculty have commented on how convenient the new Student Services is."
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