Mathematics for teaching and deep subject knowledge: voices of Mathematics Enhancement Course students in England

This article reports an investigation into how students of a mathematics course for prospective secondary mathematics teachers in England talk about the notion of ‘understanding mathematics in depth’, which was an explicit goal of the course. We interviewed eighteen students of the course. Through our social practice frame and in the light of a review of the literature on mathematical knowledge for teaching, we describe three themes that weave through the students’ talk: reasoning, connectedness and being mathematical. We argue that these themes illuminate privileged messages in the course, as well as the boundary and relationship between mathematical and pedagogic content knowledge in secondary mathematics teacher education practice.     

The Interface Between the Curriculum and the Code

Barry Carpenter, Director of the Centre for the Study of Special Education, Westminster College, Oxford, highlights the need for a school's curriculum to reflect the requirements of The Code of Practice.     

Preparing future educational leaders to write for Scholarly Publication

One objective of graduate-level education is the socialization of students into the professional roles they will eventually assume. The ability to engage successfully in scholarly writing and publishing are important competencies for graduate students, particularly at the doctoral level, to acquire. An experimental course, Basics of Scholarly Publishing, is described along with the results of a survey of 52 students who have completed the course. The proportion of those successfully breaking into scholarly print was 86.5% and increasing. Additional benefits of the course are discussed and an appeal is made for universities elsewhere to begin offering similar learning experiences for their students at the graduate level.     

Early-Morning Behaviour in School

Several children whom I know arrive at school in an emotionally distressed state and tend to disrupt classroom activities. Presumably something has gone wrong at home. What can be done to ease this problem?     

New medical library buildings. 3. The Library of Science & Medicine, Rutgers--the State University of New Jersey

A new free-standing library building, designed to integrate the collections serving interdisciplinary study in science and medicine, is described.