Mathematics Education for a New Era

by Keith Devlin

Stanford mathematician and NPR Math Guy Keith Devlin explains why, fun aside, video games are the ideal medium to teach middle-school math. Aimed primarily at teachers and education researchers, but also of interest to game developers who want to produce videogames for mathematics education, Mathematics Education for a New Era: Video Games as a Medium for Learning describes exactly what is involved in designing and producing successful math educational videogames that foster the innovative mathematical thinking skills necessary for success in a global economy.

Read the author's monthly MAA column Devlin's Angle

Genres: Education, Mathematics

218 pages, Paperback

First published February 25, 2011

About the author

Dr. Keith Devlin is a co-founder and Executive Director of the university's H-STAR institute, a Consulting Professor in the Department of Mathematics, a co-founder of the Stanford Media X research network, and a Senior Researcher at CSLI. He is a World Economic Forum Fellow and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. His current research is focused on the use of different media to teach and communicate mathematics to diverse audiences. He also works on the design of information/reasoning systems for intelligence analysis. Other research interests include: theory of information, models of reasoning, applications of mathematical techniques in the study of communication, and mathematical cognition. He has written 26 books and over 80 published research articles. Recipient of the Pythagoras Prize, the Peano Prize, the Carl Sagan Award, and the Joint Policy Board for Mathematics Communications Award. He is "the Math Guy" on National Public Radio.

Reviews

[Michael Artin]

Weak book, with some interesting information.

Overall, this is Keith Devlin saying again and again how powerful games can be for teaching math, while giving no compelling reasons why. But he really wants you to be impressed with how powerful they can be. The thing is, I agree with him, but I find his argument unpersuasive and his example -- of building a World of Warcraft type game -- misguided. I get it -- he's discovered World of Warcraft, and is a fan, and wants to enlighten you about how rich an experience it is. But he's got nothing to back it up.

There are some interesting bits about math education in general, though, so you don't come out of the pool completely dry.