Mathematics for a Modern World

Mathematics as a foundation for understanding the world, citizenship and economic growth.

Science/Technology/Engineering/Math (STEM) is a critical element of the curriculum, particularly now as, worldwide, demand is outpacing supply, and STEM professions are perceived as a key driver of growth through innovation. Mathematics is the foundation of STEM, and a critical literacy for developing innovators; as such, the situation requires urgent attention.

And beyond professions, we are witnessing significant innumeracy in a very large segment of the population, which has severe consequences for their ability to understand and solve the world’s difficult problems and their own:

  • John Allen Paulos, mathematician at Temple University stated: “Gullible citizens are a demagogue’s dream… almost every political issue has a quantitative aspect”. He has since 1982 advocated the need for educated citizenry and societies to deeply understand issues such as number sizing, coincidence, etc. all of which are portended by Mathematics.
  • Covid-19 has painfully underscored how little politicians and citizens alike understand exponentials, probabilities, complex systems, etc.

The Center for Curriculum Redesign, with prompting and appreciation from the OECD, has undertaken to design:

  • New Mathematics standards that rebalance the existing curricula worldwide, to remove obsolete items and make time/space for new ones. CCR’s focuses on all of:
  • Courseware (available by end of 2021) for teacher professional development for 6 subjects:
    • Exponentials
    • Probabilities/combinatorics
    • Bayesian probabilities
    • Algorithms
    • Complex Systems
    • Game Theory

The courseware also introduces the Competencies most appropriately developed through mathematics:

 

 

With deep gratitude to our generous funders, for their Trust:

Ray Stata
Jack Little Founder