“Math Recess”, by Sunil Singh and Dr. Christopher Brownell
Math is play, or at least, it can be more play-ful, is a line I often use. Sunil Singh and Dr. Christopher Brownell definitely agree, as they wrote a whole book about this idea.
https://www.amazon.com/Math-Recess-Playful-Learning-Disruption/dp/1948334100
I consider Sunil and Chris to be fellow travellers, as I myself gave a TEDx talked Math Is Play, which even included some similar ideas and tasks.
Those of us pulling on this thread have a few common touchstones, which can be seen as a developing canon of “playful mathematics”:
- Lockhart’s A Mathematician’s Lament, a strident call for a more humane and more interesting school mathematics.
- Francis Su’s magnificent talk “Mathematics For Human Flourishing”.
- the recreational mathematics pioneered by Martin Gardner in Scientific American, which was all about puzzles, play, and paradoxes.
Both Sunil and I have gravitated in the past to the socks problem, formulated for two sock colours below, and extend to five colours in the book.
Having done this problem with children, I know they can do it. I know they are interested in it. To us, it is about the powerful Pigeonhole Principle, but for them, it is an interesting chance to exercise their thinking, and well, to play with socks.
- a belief that schools can do much better at exposing children to the wonder and beauty of mathematics, and the joy it can inspire.
- mathematics as a very human endeavour, not cold and austere, but warm, rich, and oh so human, as comfortable around dinner tables and in pubs as it is in classrooms and on dusty old chalkboards.
- a belief that schools aren’t optimistic enough about children’s ability to handle complexities such as prime numbers, or indeed very much number theory at all.
- the board games of Dan Finkel, and the whimsical Exploding Dots of James Tanton.
- Dan Meyer’s 2010 TED talk.
- the power of social media to unite us over discussion of mathematical ideas, and to build a community of like-minded playful math minds.
This is indeed an alternate reality canon as far as mathematics teaching and learning goes. This is not the Eagles and Aerosmith here. This is more like the Ramones and Public Enemy. (A pedagogy of punk rock mathematics would share the same DNA as a pedagogy of playful mathematics, don’t you think?)
I fully accept all of these premises, and in that sense, Singh and Brownell are “preaching to the choir”. Children are curious and capable, and given certain basics (knowing how to use the four main arithmetic operations, for example), are capable of much more advanced mathematics than we give them credit for. This is not to say that young children will be using set notation, doing advanced algebra, or constructing rigorous proofs. It is rather to say that many advanced ideas can be brought in to K-12 classrooms.
Here are some big ideas mentioned in the book that can be made accessible to children:
- prime numbers (break numbers apart and play with them)
- modular arithmetic (children are familiar with the modulus we call “clock time”)
- factorials
- infinity (Googols, exponents, Ramsey numbers)
The Dreaming Has Begun…
The book ends on a very hopeful note, because as the authors note, the dreaming of a better math curriculum has begun. Kindred spirits and fellow travellers like Singh, Brownell, and the QED and Global Math week communities are among the many who are seeking to dream a more playful mathematics into being.
The authors mention this blog piece I wrote.
I say “there exists”, and use the existence quantifier because it exists, in the mind of Singh, Brownell, myself, and others. If we can dream it, we can bring it into being.
“Humanity or bust”, for mathematics, as Sunil often says. To read this book is to be transported into a subversive world where anything is possible. “Play” is not just for Kindergarten, or for Physical Education class.
“Just Play” is the title of chapter 1 of Math Recess.
Imagination+Mathematics= Play is an equation that the authors give us. It is indeed an equation-valid and true.
Mathematics: Just Play!
Math Recess is a great read for educators and those who are just curious about how playful mathematics can (and should) be.
@MatthewOldridge is an educator and fellow traveller in the playful mathematics movement.
