“One of the best critiques of current mathematics education I have ever seen.”—Keith Devlin, math columnist on NPR’s Morning Edition A brilliant research mathematician who has devoted his career to teaching kids reveals math to be creative and beautiful and rejects standard anxiety-producing teaching methods. Witty and accessible, Paul Lockhart’s controversial approach will provoke spirited debate among educators and parents alike and it will alter the way we think about math forever. Paul Lockhart, has taught mathematics at Brown University and UC Santa Cruz. Since 2000, he has dedicated himself to K-12 level students at St. Ann’s School in Brooklyn, New York.

"One of the best critiques of current mathematics education I have ever seen."--Keith Devlin, math columnist on NPR's Morning Edition A brilliant research mathematician who has devoted his career to teaching kids reveals math to be creative and beautiful and rejects standard anxiety-producing teaching methods. Witty and accessible, Paul Lockhart's controversial approach will provoke spirited debate among educators and parents alike and it will alter the way we think about math forever. Paul Lockhart, has taught mathematics at Brown University and UC Santa Cruz. Since 2000, he has dedicated himself to K-12 level students at St. Ann's School in Brooklyn, New York.

For seven years, Paul Lockhart’s A Mathematician’s Lament enjoyed a samizdat-style popularity in the mathematics underground, before demand prompted its 2009 publication to even wider applause and debate. An impassioned critique of K–12 mathematics education, it outlined how we shortchange students by introducing them to math the wrong way. Here Lockhart offers the positive side of the math education story by showing us how math should be done. Measurement offers a permanent solution to math phobia by introducing us to mathematics as an artful way of thinking and living. In conversational prose that conveys his passion for the subject, Lockhart makes mathematics accessible without oversimplifying. He makes no more attempt to hide the challenge of mathematics than he does to shield us from its beautiful intensity. Favoring plain English and pictures over jargon and formulas, he succeeds in making complex ideas about the mathematics of shape and motion intuitive and graspable. His elegant discussion of mathematical reasoning and themes in classical geometry offers proof of his conviction that mathematics illuminates art as much as science. Lockhart leads us into a universe where beautiful designs and patterns float through our minds and do surprising, miraculous things. As we turn our thoughts to symmetry, circles, cylinders, and cones, we begin to see that almost anyone can “do the math” in a way that brings emotional and aesthetic rewards. Measurement is an invitation to summon curiosity, courage, and creativity in order to experience firsthand the playful excitement of mathematical work.

Author and veteran teacher Derek Stolp has come to the conclusion that learning mathematics is of no real consequence for the vast majority of our children. This stance flies in the face of the conventional wisdom held among political leaders, business people, teachers, and parents that mathematics is an essential subject for all children to study well into their high school years. In Mathematics Miseducation, Stolp argues that mathematics, as currently taught, does not justify inclusion in the curriculum and he suggests practical changes that can be implemented within a traditional school environment to resuscitate mathematics education. In this book, the author demonstrates that our beliefs about what children need and what motivates them to learn promote practices that are counterproductive, and that these practices ultimately corrupt students' own healthy motivations. Stolp contends that there is too much emphasis upon academics in our schools, and that other important dimensions of education, such as the social, emotional, and moral development of our children, are ignored. Includes: ·Progressive and practical alternatives to the traditional methods of teaching ·Research and examples citing ways of bringing the discipline to life In seamlessly weaving theory and practice, Derek Stolp provides a narrative that is accessible to any adult concerned about what our children are learning in mathematics.

Paul Lockhart reveals arithmetic not as the rote manipulation of numbers but as a set of ideas that exhibit the surprising behaviors usually reserved for higher branches of mathematics. In this entertaining survey, he explores the nature of counting and different number systems—Western and non-Western—and weighs the pluses and minuses of each.

"The ancient Greeks argued that the best life was filled with beauty, truth, justice, play and love. The mathematician Francis Su knows just where to find them."--Kevin Hartnett, Quanta Magazine" This is perhaps the most important mathematics book of our time. Francis Su shows mathematics is an experience of the mind and, most important, of the heart."--James Tanton, Global Math Project For mathematician Francis Su, a society without mathematical affection is like a city without concerts, parks, or museums. To miss out on mathematics is to live without experiencing some of humanity's most beautiful ideas. In this profound book, written for a wide audience but especially for those disenchanted by their past experiences, an award-winning mathematician and educator weaves parables, puzzles, and personal reflections to show how mathematics meets basic human desires--such as for play, beauty, freedom, justice, and love--and cultivates virtues essential for human flourishing. These desires and virtues, and the stories told here, reveal how mathematics is intimately tied to being human. Some lessons emerge from those who have struggled, including philosopher Simone Weil, whose own mathematical contributions were overshadowed by her brother's, and Christopher Jackson, who discovered mathematics as an inmate in a federal prison. Christopher's letters to the author appear throughout the book and show how this intellectual pursuit can--and must--be open to all.

Topology Through Inquiry is a comprehensive introduction to point-set, algebraic, and geometric topology, designed to support inquiry-based learning (IBL) courses for upper-division undergraduate or beginning graduate students. The book presents an enormous amount of topology, allowing an instructor to choose which topics to treat. The point-set material contains many interesting topics well beyond the basic core, including continua and metrizability. Geometric and algebraic topology topics include the classification of 2-manifolds, the fundamental group, covering spaces, and homology (simplicial and singular). A unique feature of the introduction to homology is to convey a clear geometric motivation by starting with mod 2 coefficients. The authors are acknowledged masters of IBL-style teaching. This book gives students joy-filled, manageable challenges that incrementally develop their knowledge and skills. The exposition includes insightful framing of fruitful points of view as well as advice on effective thinking and learning. The text presumes only a modest level of mathematical maturity to begin, but students who work their way through this text will grow from mathematics students into mathematicians. Michael Starbird is a University of Texas Distinguished Teaching Professor of Mathematics. Among his works are two other co-authored books in the Mathematical Association of America's (MAA) Textbook series. Francis Su is the Benediktsson-Karwa Professor of Mathematics at Harvey Mudd College and a past president of the MAA. Both authors are award-winning teachers, including each having received the MAA's Haimo Award for distinguished teaching. Starbird and Su are, jointly and individually, on lifelong missions to make learning—of mathematics and beyond—joyful, effective, and available to everyone. This book invites topology students and teachers to join in the adventure.