Problems in the Real World of Mathematics Education

Over the years our society has considered dance and mathematics to be near polar opposites. Dance is a fun activity-both to perform and observe; it involves other people and can be source of great satisfaction. On the other hand, the general populace considers mathematics to be a dull and overly complicated source of constant frustration. The two seem to have nothing in common. And yet upon close investigation the many connections and similarities reveal themselves.

Early Mathematics Learning, 2013

Setting the scene Our field, our baby field that is brand new in comparison with the millennia for which mathematics has existed as a discipline, has seen some dramatic changes in its half--century of being a field in its own right, with its own journals and conferences. We have come a long way, even since the early 1980s, when "illuminative evaluation" (McCormick, 1982) was slowly replacing or, initially at least, supplementing the psychometric experiments that used "subjects" (people) who were being taught mathematics. Before that period, in the old paradigm, no research that did not aim for objectivity by means of carefully controlled experiments and statistical analysis was considered scientific in our field. In connection with the research methods of this period, Krutetskii (1976) gave a pungent critique:

Dancing Brains as a key motivator for success in mathematics, 2018

A growing body of research supports the notion that dance enhances cognitive function as well as providing an enjoyable means of learning, as evidenced by recent news items and experiments such as that of Professor Michael Duncan of Coventry University as shown in the recent BBC documentary ‘The Truth About Getting Fit’ (BBC 50:43-57:00) where dance was declared “unusually beneficial” (Michael Mosley, 50:47) for the brain. Lynnette Overby, Beth Post and Diane Newman espouse the “bodies-on” nature of interdisciplinary dance stating that dance is: Uniquely suited to support conceptual learning because the dance vocabulary is expressed in terms of the body, space, time, and force – concepts also fundamental to understanding the universe (2005, Preface xi). Other scholars such as Anne Watson, Anne Green-Gilbert (BrainDance) and Eric Jensen, and on-going programmes such as Learning Through the Arts and Project Zero support the notion that dance is beneficial for the mind and useful as a means of interdisciplinary learning. In addition, neuroscience research shows that 85% of learners are predominantly kinesthetic learners (Jensen, 2010) and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities agrees that there are: Documented significant links between arts integration models and academic and social outcomes for students, efficacy for teachers, and school-wide improvements in culture and climate (PCAH 2011 in Wheeler and Bogard 2013, p.4). In my action research project carried out in Primary Schools in Canada, using a quasi-experimental approach and pre-/post data, it was clear that the increase in motivation to learn, along with increase in attainment was evident with students also enjoying both subjects more than they anticipated or experienced prior. In this paper, therefore, I will explore the notion of an equal interdisciplinary partnership of dance and mathematics that increases motivation and enhances learning in both subjects. https://interdisciplinaryuk.net/pastconferences/leeds-pedagogy-and-practice-2018/

2016

This paper presents a teaching and learning program in mathematics drawing on the aesthetic expression of dance as the medium of seeking knowledge and meaning. Originally conceived as a joyful, effective and threshold lowering activity for learners apprehensive about the curriculum subject, including pre-service teachers, the program has been further developed to visualizing, in dancing, the learners’ previous subject knowledge as a base for further acquisition of proficiencies in the discipline. The program’s overall object is to create an effectual interactive space of learning with immediate interaction between teacher, peer learners and the math subject. Aesthetic literacy through dance and math numeracy are enhanced and interplay gainfully. Participants with varying cultural and language backgrounds, exchanging experiences and references, embark on joyful journeys through the field of knowledge. Data gathered from observations of lessons designed according to the program and de...

2018

A physical movement can be construed in many ways. For some researchers of mathematics education informed by embodiment theories this is important, as they perceive a mathematical concept as a polysemous structure grounded in multiple interrelated sensorimotor constructions. In this dance is no different. Similarly in both disciplines, the more ways one has of thinking about a movement and the more connections one builds across these different constructions, the deeper and richer one’s understanding and proficiency in enacting the movement and the greater one’s capacity to transpose the learning to new contexts. In both mathematics and dance, instructors thus seek to create conditions for students to develop diverse subjective constructions of the movements they are learning to enact and to explore relations across these different constructions. Any pedagogical discussion of movement, whether in dance or mathematics, must be a discussion of the individual’s subjective phenomenology ...

Phoenix, Tessellations, 2016

This paper presents a teaching and learning program in mathematics drawing on dance as primary action in subject knowledge shaping and meaning making. Originally conceived as a joyful, effective and threshold lowering activity for learners apprehensive about the curriculum subject, including pre-service teachers, the program has been further developed to visualizing, in dancing, the learners' previous subject knowledge as a base for further acquisition of proficiencies in the discipline. The program's overall object is to create an effectual interactive space of learning with immediate interaction between teacher, peer learners and the math subject. Aesthetic literacy through dance and math numeracy are enhanced and interplay gainfully. The theoretical framework is informed by Dewey's thoughts on Aesthetic experience and Greene's ideas on Aesthetic literacy, combined with Marton, Tsui and Chik's interactive Space of learning. Participants with varying cultural and language backgrounds, exchanging experiences and references, embark on joyful journeys through the field of knowledge. Data gathered from observations of lessons designed according to the program and dealing with a number of math curriculum items are presented and analysed. Conclusions are drawn for further investigation of the intersection of the proficiencies and literacies of aesthetics and mathematics.

2003

2019

In this workshop, we share the main results of the “Maths in Motion” (MiM) Erasmus+ educational project (20172019), concerning how dance and body movement can be used as tools to teach mathematics. The MiM-approach is based on embodied cognition and opens up new horizons for students, teachers, and even parents by offering simultaneous experiences with the structural, spatial, rhythmic and symbolic dimensions of mathematics through body movement. We will introduce two teaching modules developed during the project. These modules follow in the footsteps of the writing, workshops, and performances of Schaffer and Stern in the field of mathematics and dance over the past few decades. The modules guide and encourage the participants to create performance art pieces that articulate mathematical concepts.

Mathematics and Computation in Music, 2019

Can we use mathematics, and in particular the abstract branch of category theory, to describe some basics of dance, and to highlight structural similarities between music and dance? We first summarize recent studies between mathematics and dance, and between music and categories. Then, we extend this formalism and diagrammatic thinking style to dance.

Routledge eBooks, 2023