IMAGINARY—a How-to Guide for Math Exhibitions

Matt, Andreas

doi:10.1090/noti1508

Cited by 1 publication

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“…Finally, there have been several new developments in museum mathematics learning environments -both in the US and internationally -subsequent to the focus of analysis in this paper. For example, the Imaginary organization (Matt 2017), headquartered in Germany, has been promoting and supporting hundreds of mathematical exhibitions all over the world. The…”

Section: Museum-based Mathematics Contains Political and Aesthetic Di...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Politics and aesthetics of museum mathematics: the dissensual curriculum of early 21st century mathematics exhibitions

Kelton

Nemirovsky

2022

Journal of Curriculum Studies

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Museum-based mathematics exhibitions are increasingly prominent but under-theorized learning environments. In this study we analyze the curriculum of United States mathematics exhibitions developed in the early 21 st century in terms of their complex suggestions about the nature of mathematics and mathematical sense-making. We apply Rancière's notions of politics and aesthetics to explore what we describe as dissensus present in the texts, images, and multisensory exhibits of several major mathematics exhibitions. Our analysis characterizes this dissensus as a paradoxical mix of alternative and familiar mathematical aesthetics. On the one hand, we identify an alternative aesthetics emphasizing everyday ubiquity, sensuality, and informal sense-making. At the same time, we identify a countervailing emphasis on dominant notions of mathematics as esoteric, immaterial, and formal-symbolic. Museum mathematics efforts sometimes describe themselves as expanding how the public views and defines mathematics. A close examination of the exhibitions in this study reveals a complex picture, in which dominant and alternative forms of mathematics are co-present. The analysis suggests that museum-based mathematics researchers and practitioners view their work as containing political and aesthetic dimensions that can disrupt or reify what society counts as mathematics.

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Section: Museum-based Mathematics Contains Political and Aesthetic Di...mentioning

confidence: 99%