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Mathematics for makers and mathematics for users

Alexandre V. Borovik

pp. 309-327

Abstract

The current crisis in the school-level mathematics education is a sign that it reaches a bifurcation point and will inevitably split into two streams: • education for a selected minority of children/young people who, in their adult lives, will be filling increasingly small share of jobs which really require mathematics competence (I call them makers); and• awareness classes for the rest of population, end users of technology saturated by mathematics which however will remain invisible to them.In this paper, I discuss challenges arising in mathematics education for the makers. This is a theme which is rarely discussed in the mathematics education literature. It demands re-thinking of basic assumptions underpinning the mainstream mathematics education.I invite the reader to discard taboos and start a frank and open discussion of this difficult problem:What is Mathematics Education, Really?

Publication details

Published in:

Sriraman Bharath (2017) Humanizing mathematics and its philosophy: essays celebrating the 90th birthday of Reuben Hersh. Basel, Birkhäuser.

Pages: 309-327

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-61231-7_22

Full citation:

Borovik Alexandre V. (2017) „Mathematics for makers and mathematics for users“, In: B. Sriraman (ed.), Humanizing mathematics and its philosophy, Basel, Birkhäuser, 309–327.