Math Ed Forum Meeting Minutes
Saturday, November 22, 1997
10:30 a.m. ? 2:30 p.m.
AGENDA
10:00 - 10:30 Coffee in Fields Institute Atrium
10:30 ? 10:40 Welcoming Remarks and announcement of
Steering Committee Election results
(Bill Langford)
10:40 ? 12:00 Report from the Forum Committee on a Proposal for a Writing
Team on Curriculum Guidelines in Secondary Mathematics (Myrna Ingalls,
Chair.)
- Followed by discussion and input to the Committee from the Forum.
12:00 ? 12:30 Lunch Break in Fields Atrium
12:30 ? 2:30 Discussion: Bill 160.
Notes from the Mathematics Education Forum Meeting Saturday, November
22, 1997
Present: Bill Allan, Judy Crompton, Shirley Dalrymple, Gordon Dowsley,
Gary Flewelling, Lynda Graham, Bill Higginson, Myrna Ingalls, Mary Lou
Kestell, John Kezys, Bill Langford, Neal Madras, Ken Marchant, John
McKnight, Maung Min-oo, Eric Muller, Arie Nadler, Peter Taylor, Marg
Warren, Mike Wierzba.
Regrets: Ed Barbeau, Gila Hanna, Steve Halperin, Brendan Kelly, Doug
McDougall, Peter Saarimaki, Ron Scoins
1. Welcome
Bill Langford welcomed participants and introduced the newly-elected
steering committee.
Elementary/Secondary
Gary Flewelling
Mary Lou Kestell
Colleges/Universities
Linda Graham
Bill Higginson
Private Sector
Ken Marchant
Fields Institute
Bill Langford
The steering committee had a short meeting prior to the Forum at which
Gary Flewelling was elected Chair. Bill Langford will continue to chair
Education Forum meetings.
2. Report from the Forum Committee on a Proposal for a Writing Team
on Curriculum Guidelines in Secondary Mathematics
Report from Myrna Ingalls - chair of the RFP team
- 6 members of Proposal Writing Team - Peter Taylor, Ron Scoins, Lynda
Colgan, Lynda Graham, Myrna Ingalls, Todd Romiens (replacing Geoff Roulet)
- 3 meetings so far
- impact of the current political atmosphere
- will take direction from OAME, OMCA, Field's group
- what should the guideline writing team look like??
- at most 4 months to complete writing
Guideline Writing Team:
- 24 people who will meet 6 times in Toronto, to act as a steering committee
and a sounding board for the project
- 6 of above people who will meet for a total of 20 to 30 days over
4 months to do the actual writing . Of these, at least 4 will presently
be high school teachers or at least very familiar with the day to day
workings of the secondary school classroom - at least one post secondary
and possibly one elementary
- Co-chairs - 1 high school teacher should be seconded full time for
the 4 months of the project. The other co-chair will be a post-secondary
member of the board, who may or may not be on the writing team. These
co-chairs will set the tone of the project, create agendas, coordinate
the efforts of the writers, delegate to the secretariat . . .
- there will be a secretariat which will carry out the secretarial,
logistical and technical duties of the project and manage the budget,
thereby freeing the team to focus on the content of the guideline. The
University of Waterloo Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing
has offered to provide the Secretariat (at cost).
Is there any indication that the Ministry is looking for something new
in all of this and if so is there some way we can build into the 24
to make sure that this will happen?
- concern about the fact that it is open to North American market
- Expert Panel members can now be part of guideline writing team
- must make sure that we include people like quality ed. people, private
corporation people like those at the Field's this summer
- RFP will not come out till January but other timelines will not change
- must ensure that members of writing team have a wider view than just
their classroom
24 Members (suggestions - no final decision)
- 6 secondary
- 1 intermediate
- 1 mathematics coordinator
- 5 university reps (math ed, math research, other)
- 2 college reps
- 2 industry
- 1 small business
- 1 trades, entrepreneur
- 2 arts, media, social science
- 1 from the secretariat
- 2 students (1 university, 1 college)
***recommendations***
include someone from professional sports and entertainment, someone
from retail, health care
What should MEF do?
What kind of activities should the Forum be involved in? (Brainstorming
session lead by Mary Lou Kestell)
- technology - policy statements, position papers, implementation plans
- define mathematical literacy - what it means to use mathematics, how
to think
mathematically
- define roles for parents and design plans to share images of math
- PR - celebrate learning, promote mathematics in community
- math traveling road show
- inservice - teachers, parents, students
- EQAO - carry on the discussion about ex. EQAO results and recommendations
- personal meetings between us and EQAO, OCT
- press releases
- speak up on needs of teachers to prepare them to deliver quality math
education
- teach mathematics as the achievements of mankind - speak up and run
w/s - promote the idea that mathematics grows from the heart of a culture,
love of discipline, appreciation of civilization, example like video
- The Day The Universe Changed, CRTC address the mathematically disenfranchised
- focus on issues around which there are diverse views (use our own
diversity to create a strong voice
- determine projects or issues which need to be done and then solicit
the broader community to submit proposals to accomplish these things
- web-site
- 2000 The World Mathematical Year UNESCO - activities developed, CMS
developing materials for Canadian, MET might be the group which brings
together and coordinates - activities in Ontario - build sense of lots
of math going on in Ontario in 2000 and beyond, train some people for
media
- develop Rich Learning Tasks and provide inservice for them by all
stakeholders
- brainstorming support/idea building forum for curriculum developers
- feedback/create forum for high school teachers to share expertise
with university teachers - university undergraduate curriculum
- address areas math curriculum that need attention - grade 6 - 8 math
weak
- create a position paper which defines ideal criteria for teachers
of mathematics - RUBRICS of - inservice and preservice -
- establish mechanisms for communication of change
- archiving methods
- connectivity - use it to connect groups
Discussion: Bill 160
- not get involved in politics of the struggle
- OTF request re lack of cooperation of affiliates with government,
a possible problem
- OMCA will continue to cooperate with development of proposal
- concern that curriculum might go "off shore" (Is Ontario too proud
to allow this?)
- Implementation of EQAO recommendations would be opportunity to focus
on promises of quality of education - complication if OSSTF issues directive
not to be involved in Ministry initiatives
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be on Saturday, January 24, 1998, 10:30 - 2:30
p.m. at The Fields Institute, Toronto.
