Mathematics Education

Should departments of mathematics be seriously involved in preparing future teachers, for example, by offering service courses that focus more on the process of doing mathematics?

There is evidence over the past several decades that many, if not most, teacher candidates enter B.Ed. programs with a view of mathematics as rule-based, rote, and disconnected. This is especially true for students who did not major in mathematics and who often have mathematics as a second teachable, having taken, in mathematics, mostly what are called “service courses.” These are often the teachers who go on to teach Grades 9 and 10, a critical stage in students’ mathematical development.

Should university mathematics departments take these concerns seriously and, particularly in these service courses, focus more on mathematics as an open playground with an invitation to work creatively with beautiful structures? Or should that work remain primarily in the hands of education specialists?

Speakers: Wesley Burr (Trent University), Ami Mamolo (Ontario Tech University), Sarah Mayes-Tang (University of Toronto), Cameron Morland (University of Waterloo), Sa’diyya Parnell-Hendrickson (OISE)

This is one part of a larger event on Saturday: MathEd Forum: April 2026: Tensions and Partnerships: Two Debates on Mathematicians in Teacher Preparation and Research Collaboration. Debate 1: On Involvement of Mathematicians in Teacher Education, Debate 2: Debate 2: On Research Collaboration Across Communities http://www.fields.utoronto.ca/activities/25-26/meforum-Apr