Doing the Maths on Maths. (October 11, 2007)

A while back we recalled a discussion between Daniel Koshland, when he was editor of Science and his quasi alter ego Dr Noitall:

Science. We have come to ask you why scientists seem to have such a poor image.

And after some animated discussion:

Science. Then how can we go about changing public opinion? ...[H]ow can we convince them of the truth?

Dr. Noitall. That is another misconception that you are going to have to get rid of... A stubborn insistence on the facts instead of the people's perception of the facts makes you look heartless and disdainful. You are going to have to come out as more reasonable and accommodating...

Science. So how do we handle the 2 + 2 = 4 problem?

Dr. Noitall. I'd suggest you start by conceding that 2 + 2 = 4½

While there is no indication that the discipline has twisted itself into that sort of a pretzel, there are some signs that the federal Coalition government wants at least to give the impression to have taken seriously the arguments put forward to resurrect Australian maths and stats. But it's taken several years of concerted effort on the part of key advocates -- and while much still needs to be accomplished, the enabling sciences might take note of the example.

Hyam Rubinstein heads the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at The University of Melbourne and chairs the National Committee for Mathematical Sciences. Yesterday in an article in The Australian he summarises events of the past couple of years.

Below, some excerpts:

     In December last year, the National Strategic Review of Mathematical Sciences Research in Australia was launched at the Australian Academy of Sciences. It found an alarming decline in numbers of students taking mathematics and statistics in schools and universities.

It also found an increasing demand from industry, medical and pharmaceutical research and large organisations such as the Defence Science and Technology Organisation, the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the CSIRO for mathematically well-qualified graduates. This was exemplified at a forum in February to discuss the importance of mathematics and statistics.

[T]here had been a reduction of more than one-third in the number of positions at university mathematics and statistics departments in the main urban institutions ...The number of mathematical sciences graduates in Australia was extremely low by Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development standards.

Priority No1 of the review was improved funding for the teaching of mathematics and statistics... the May budget provided for an increase in funding equivalent to that of computer science. [but]this has yet to make a substantial impact and departments continue to shrink. [In fact] about 20 positions have been lost in universities across the country during the past 12 months.

The second priority was for the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute to be properly resourced. AMSI has just received a federal structural adjustment grant of $2 million during the next three years.

[Nevertheless] Tony Chan, deputy director of the National Science Foundation in the US, [told the Australian Mathematical Society last month] he was amazed at the deterioration of mathematical sciences in Australia.

In schools, a critical problem is to attract and retain enough well-trained and enthusiastic teachers of mathematics... [W]ithout confidence and deep understanding of mathematics and statistics, teachers cannot teach well. A report from the Australian Council of Deans of Science highlighted the large number of teachers taking mathematics classes without proper discipline knowledge.

If Australia is not to reinvest in mathematics and statistics, we will be a poorer nation in our ability to respond to challenges. The mathematical sciences provide powerful tools for analysing the effects of climate change, allocation of scarce resources such as water and removing bottlenecks in key infrastructure such as ports and railways.

And here it is worth recalling the campaign launched last week by the UK government, following the report by former minister for science David Sainsbury, to recruit more qualified maths and physics secondary school teachers, in order to reverse their long-term decline.