Why Can't I Be a Mathematician?.
George Gadanidis · for the learning of mathematics · 2012
Looking in the mirror of society to explain why children can not be (or would not want to be) mathematicians, we might see two unflattering images: math sucks and mathemati cians are geeks. Of course, mathematics is beautiful and mathematicians are cool, but these appear to be secrets that we, the mathematics community, somehow keep to ourselves. How might we share the beauty of mathematics and the cool ness of being a mathematician with a wider audience? At a symposium in 2004, Apostolos Doxiadis, a mathe matics prodigy who eventually became a filmmaker and author, said that mathematics education will not change unless what counts as mathematics first changes—what counts as mathematics needs to include the stories of doing mathematics. [1] Story and audience form the cornerstones of the mathe matics classroom work discussed in this article. Put in the