New ESM-articles

A couple of new (online first) articles have been published by Educational Studies in Mathematics:

• David Tall has written an obituary of Jim Kaput: "James J. Kaput (1942–2005) imagineer and futurologist of mathematics education". Abstract: Jim Kaput lived a full life in mathematics education and we have many reasons to be grateful to him, not only for his vision of the use of technology in mathematics, but also for his fundamental humanity. This paper considers the origins of his ‘big ideas’ as he lived through the most amazing innovations in technology that have changed our lives more in a generation than in many centuries before. His vision continues as is exemplified by the collected papers in this tribute to his life and work.
• Roberta Y. Schorr and Gerald A. Goldin have written an article called "Students’ expression of affect in an inner-city simcalc classroom". Abstract: This research focuses on some of the affordances provided by SimCalc software, suggesting that its use can have important consequences for students’ mathematical affect and motivation. We describe an episode in an inner-city SimCalc environment illustrating our approach to the study of affect in the mathematics classroom. We infer students’ development of new, effective affective pathways and structures as they participate in conceptually challenging mathematical activities. Our work highlights the roles of dignity and respect in creating an emotionally safe environment for mathematical engagement, and makes explicit some of the complexity of studying affect.
• Richard Lesh, James A. Middleton, Elizabeth Caylor and Shweta Gupta have written an article entitled: "A science need: Designing tasks to engage students in modeling complex data". Abstract: In this information age, the capacity to perceive structure in data, model that structure, and make decisions regarding its implications is rapidly becoming the most important of the quantitative literacy skills. We build on Kaput’s belief in a Science of Need to motivate and direct the development of tasks and tools for engaging students in reasoning about data. A Science of Need embodies the utility value of mathematics, and engages students in seeing the importance of mathematics in both their current and their future lives. An extended example of the design of tasks that require students to generate, test, and revise models of complex data is used to illustrate the ways in which attention to the contributions of students can aid in the development of both useful and theoretically coherent models of mathematical understanding by researchers. Tools such as Fathom are shown as democratizing agents in making data modeling more expressive and intimate, aiding in the development of deeper and more applicable mathematical understanding.