Matematicas

THE EXPERIENCE OF SECURITY IN MATHEMATICS

Eleni Charalampous and Tim Rowland

In this paper, we report some findings from an investigation of a topic related

to affect and mathematics which is not well-represented in the literature. For

some mathematicians, mathematics itself is a source of security in an uncertain world, and we investigated this feeling and experience in the case of 19 adult mathematicians working in universities and schools in Greece. The focus reported here is on ways that a relationship with mathematics offers a sense of permanence and stability on the one hand, and an assurance of novelty and progress on the other.

Keywords: Anxiety; Fear; Mathematicians; Mathematics; Security

La experiencia de la seguridad en matemáticas En este trabajo presentamos algunos resultados de una investigación sobre un tema relacionado con el afecto y las matemáticas que no está bien representado en la literatura. Para algunos matemáticos, las matemáticas en sí mismas son una fuente de seguridad en un mundo incierto; nosotros investigamos

este sentimiento y experiencia en el caso de 19 matemáticos adultos

que trabajan en universidades y escuelas de Grecia. El foco de este artículo

es en las maneras en que una relación con las matemáticas ofrece un sentido de permanencia y estabilidad por una parte, y garantía de novedad y progreso, por otra.

Términos clave: Ansiedad; Matemáticas; Matemáticos; Miedo; Seguridad

In his introduction to a Research Forum on Affect at the 28th Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, Hannula (2004) wrote that emotions “have an important role in human coping and adaptation” (p. 108). The literature concerning emotional responses to mathematics is dominated by investigations into negative responses to instruction and testing, and by constructs such as mathematics anxiety, fear of failure, and mathematics avoidance (Zan, Brown, Evans,

& Hannula, 2006). However, there is another side to this coin, with many individuals attesting to a positive response to mathematics, and deriving satisfaction, or pleasure, from it, for various reasons. Bertrand Russell, for example, speaks for those who find a pure, cold beauty in the subject:

E. Charalampous and T. Rowland

PNA

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