The purpose of maths
- Wits University
Professor Karin Brodie delivers her inaugural lecture.
There is an imbalance between the three purposes of schooling and the economic purpose is overly dominant, says Professor Karin Brodie.
Brodie, a mathematics professor and Acting Head of the School of Education, shared her thoughts on the state of education during her inaugural lecture, titled: Changing the equation: rethinking mathematics teaching and learning in South Africa on 6 October 2015.
Drawing on the work of Elliott Eisner, Brodie said education serves three functions: the economic, knowledge and moral purposes. The economic refers to individual and social economic development. The knowledge purpose seeks knowledge for its own ends, and the moral purpose is shaped by the social context and is the hardest to achieve.
Brodie said: “All schools work with all these purposes explicitly or implicitly, and with different emphases.”
In her lecture she argued that the focus on the economic at the expense of the knowledge purpose strips mathematics to its basics and robs learners of the beauty of the subject.
She also dispelled the beliefs that mathematics is only for a select few.
Everyone can learn mathematics, she said, the deciding factor is teachers' knowledge and how they teach. Brodie also added that parents who struggled with mathematics pass on their fears by discouraging their children from taking mathematics. An unfortunate trajectory as with the proper support, all learners can discover the joys of mathematics.
Brodie holds a PhD in Mathematics Education from Stanford University, USA. She is currently the Principal Investigator of the Data in Informed Practice Improvement Project which established professional learning communities among high school mathematics teachers.
She is the author of the book Teaching Mathematical Reasoning in Secondary Schools and has edited a book, currently under review, with Stanford University colleagues, titled: Professional Learning Communities in South Africa.