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A U-turn on maths teaching back towards the front line
How I Wish I'd Taught Maths
By Craig Barton
John Catt Educational
502pp, £19.00, paperback
ISBN: 978911382492
Most of us never question or challenge the beliefs and views we hold most deeply. It's an evolutionary trait to develop a view of the world that works for us and stick to it rigidly. Breaking out of this is hard and uncomfortable - and leads to all sorts of interesting phenomena, such as cognitive bias.
That said, people do change their minds on important things. Saul the persecutor of Christians became Paul the evangelist and martyr. US secretary of defense Robert McNamara took a very different view of the Vietnam War later in life. Mikhail Gorbachev went from communist leader to introducer of perestroika and glasnost in the USSR. And because of their public roles, these people executed their U-turns for all to see - the rest of us can do them privately.
It could have been the same for Craig Barton, who completely changed his mind on how to teach maths. Instead of quietly shifting his practice, he has been brave enough to write an entire book about it. And it's great. I love it, I really do.
A declaration of...