Teaching and Learning Mathematics in a Period of Changes: What Remains Unchanged

Abstract

Without a doubt, the next quarters of the 21st Century will be characterized by accelerated change across all aspects of human life, thanks mainly to breakthroughs in digital technologies. The teaching and learning of mathematics in schools are accordingly affected, for better or worse. Both teachers and students need to be able to navigate these changes - and the uncertainties that accompany them - in ways that optimize the teaching and learning of the discipline, respectively, while maintaining the well-being of mathematics education for all involved. An argument will be made in this paper that what is needed more than ever to facilitate this navigation is something which remains unchanged in a context of continual change, that is, the culturally based values related to mathematics and to its pedagogy. Examples of these include rationalism, fluency, and practice. How values underlie aspects of mathematics education that have become significant in recent years, namely, values alignment, mathematical wellbeing, and mathematics competencies, will be discussed. Understanding the central roles of values in these and other aspects of mathematics education in the 21st Century would thus empower teachers to better interact with students, foster and maintain their mathematical wellbeing, and develop in them relevant mathematics competencies for empowered living in the period of change.