2006 Newsletter No. 4

Here's a joke...

The Evolution of a Math Problem 1950:

A lumberjack sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of this price. What is his profit?

1960 (traditional math):

A lumberjack sells a truckload of lumber for $100. His cost of production is 4/5 of this price, or in other words $80. What is his profit?

1970 (new math):

A lumberjack exchanges a set L of lumber for a set M of money. The cardinality of set M is 100, and each element is worth $1. Make 100 dots representing the elements of set M. The set C is a subset of set M, of cardinality 80. What is the cardinality of the set P of profits, if P is the difference set M\C?

1980 (equal opportunity math):

A lumberjack sells a truckload of wood for $100. His or her cost of production is $80, and his or her profit is $20. Your assignment: Underline the number 20.

1990 (outcome based education):

By cutting down beautiful forest trees, a lumberperson makes $20. What do you think of his way of making a living? In your group, discuss how the forest birds and squirrels feel, and write an essay about it.

1995 (entrepreneurial math):

By laying off 402 of its lumberjacks, a company improves its stock price from $80 to $100. How much capital gain per share does the CEO make by exercising his stock options at $80? Assume capital gains are no longer taxed, because this encourages investment.

1998 (motivational math):

A logging company exports its wood-finishing jobs to its Indonesian subsidiary and lays off the corresponding half of its US workers (the higher-paid half). It clear-cuts 95% of the forest, leaving the rest for the spotted owl, and lays off all its remaining US workers. It tells the workers that the spotted owl is responsible for the absence of fellable trees and lobbies Congress for exemption from the Endangered Species Act. Congress instead exempts the company from all federal regulation. What is the return on investment of the lobbying?

There are many more like this on the Internet. You can find them by googling (or by using another search engine) words like 'math' (sorry about that but it does pick up Mathematics as well as the American shorthand) and 'joke'. This one made me laugh the fi rst few times I read it, especially as it changed as people added to it. I think that the ability to laugh at ourselves and not be caught up in being seen to be always right enables us to survive in our demanding career.

Jokes like this, however, can become a problem when people who know little about our profession and how we teach Mathematics take them seriously. I have had this joke sent to me by a friend – not a teacher of Mathematics - who titled the email 'So true, so true'. Then, recently, a version of this joke was published in the West Australian letters page. There was nothing in the letter to indicate that it was a joke. Worse still, I have heard a minister for education refer to the 'fact' that all Mathematics teachers do these days is teach the sociology of Mathematics, referring to this as an example.

When this happens, the joke ceases to be funny. Hands up all those teachers of Mathematics who use only questions like the 1998 example and never the 1950 example. It seems to have become another instance of misinformation being used to engender fear in the general population and to bash teachers.

It is vital to both our profession and to Mathematics education that we, the Mathematics educators of primary, secondary and tertiary students, be seen to be the experts in our field. We have the experience in teaching students in extreme conditions as well as in 'easier' settings. We are the ones who are close to children's minds as they learn Mathematics. We are the ones who solve problems everyday in our classrooms. We are the ones who know what we teach and how.

As Sue Willis said in one of her keynotes at the Primary Convention, research can only provide the means of examining what happens in the classroom – teachers are the only ones who can provide the solutions to the problems that arise.

We must respond to misinformation with what we know. We must challenge statements we know are wrong. I know of no teacher of Mathematics who 'only teach the sociology of Mathematics'. And none of them would ever use questions such as the 1950 example. We do a lot more than that.

It is good to have jokes and to not take ourselves too seriously. It is detrimental to all we do to allow others to take such jokes seriously. Let's stay focussed and ensure we own our profession and speak up when we need to.

On behalf of the committee and the office ladies we hope you and yours are having/have had a lovely and safe holiday.

Cheers

Games Camp

104 Year 9 and 10 students took part in a fun mathematics weekend at Ern Halliday Recreation Camp (Hillarys) including six teams from the country. Congratulations to the Christ Church Grammar School team on winning the overall prize.

Many thanks to Engineers Australia and all the sponsors. Our gratitude is also due to Geoff Jamieson and his band of volunteers who ensured the weekend ran as smoothly as ever. And last but not least a terrifi c bunch of students helped make the weekend a treat.

Have Sum Fun

Hale School won the Larry Blakers Award for the top team in the Upper Secondary HSF competition in 2006.

Download the complete Newsletter
2006 Newsletter No. 4 (207kb)