Plenary Lecture 3:

Values, Principles and Design in Mathematics Education

Malcolm Swan, Professor of Mathematics Education, Shell Centre, The University of Nottingham, UK. Joint Winner of  the 2008 ISDDE Prize for The Language of Functions and Graphs

1st October, 08.45 – 10.00

The social, personal and intrinsic values of learning mathematics are widely recognised and are clearly evident in most government reports, national curricula, and examination specifications. There is also substantial agreement, supported by research, as to the principles that should underpin effective teaching and assessment. Often these values and principles remain ‘aspirational’ and are simply ignored in textbook, lesson and assessment design. In this presentation, I will exemplify some of these values and principles, and show how they can be ‘designed into’ tasks and teaching materials in ways that resist corruption.

Biographical Notes

Malcolm Swan is Professor of Mathematics Education at the University of Nottingham. He leads the Shell Centre design team, playing the principal role in the design and development of many of its products, including the “boxes” that pioneered the integration of assessment, curriculum and professional development.   His research is mainly into the theory, development and evaluation of teaching situations in mathematics education. This includes: the design of situations which foster reflection, discussion and metacognitive activity; the design of situations in which children construct mathematical concepts and develop problem solving strategies; and the design of formative and evaluative assessment. Malcolm has recently led the design of curriculum and professional development resources that have been sent to all mathematics teachers in Further and Secondary Education in England.