Why mechanics should be integral to secondary school mathematics
Address for correspondence:Centre for Teaching Mathematics, School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Plymouth, Plymouth PL4 8AA, UK. E-mail: stuart.rowlands{at}plymouth.ac.uk
Submitted February 2007; accepted October 2008
Mechanics has never been the most popular subject in A-level mathematics, the UK’s public examination for 16–18-year olds, either with students, teachers or educators. The attempts to popularize mechanics have failed and it is conceivable that the subject will be dropped from the A-level syllabus in the foreseeable future. This article argues the importance of mechanics and why it should be integral to secondary school mathematics: Mechanics is the exemplar of mathematical modelling, is the logical point of entry for the enculturation into scientific thinking and provides the means to develop an understanding of the relationship between mathematics, the theoretical objects of science and the way science and mathematics speak of the world. It enables learners across the ‘ability range’ to think in the abstract and as such should be taught prior to the 6th form, that is, prior to the UK’s post-compulsory level of education.
Stuart Rowlands was a full time secondary teacher in Bath during the period 1980–1993 before going to the University of Plymouth to complete his PhD in mechanics education. Since then he has been working for the Centre for Teaching Mathematics in the School of Mathematics and Statistics at the University. He is currently working in collaboration with Robert Carson of Montana State University on a project that aims to bring back Greek deductive geometry but with an historical-cultural setting.