MATH 4 AFRICA

new: http://africanwomeninmath.org/resources/news/african-women-mathematicians
African Women in Mathematics Asssociation (AWMA) , is an association whose main aim is to promote women in mathematics in Africa and promote mathematics among young girls and women in Africa. AWMA, a non-profit, international, non-governmental organization was established on  19th July 2013.

http://www.mathemafrica.org/
Mathemafrica is designed to be a blogging platform for bloggers writing about mathematics within Africa and those who are blogging about mathematics with relevance to Africa. We aim to be a multilingual, multiblogger platform, giving a voice to anyone who wants to discuss mathematics and a source of information and inspiration for anyone who would like to know how mathematics might be relevant to them.

http://aimssec.aims.ac.za/
The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences Schools Enrichment Programme(AIMSSEC) is a not-for-profit organisation providing professional development courses for mathematics teachers, subject advisers and field trainers in South Africa, introducing new mathematics teaching skills, improving subject knowledge and empowering teachers from disadvantaged rural and township communities.

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Mathematical inspirations
(Jan 2015): Here is a link to an interesting article on one of the 2014 Fields medalists. One of the remarks is that  Artur Avila did not do well at all in his first math olympiad, highlighting that that the skill and talent required for such competitions is also based on prior training: https://www.quantamagazine.org/20140812-a-brazilian-wunderkind-who-calms-chaos/

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It's our culture: 

"On mathematics education in SA and the relevance of popularising mathematics" 

http://www.dianewilcox.net/dianewilcox1999_on_math_ed_in_SA.pdf

The above working paper was drafted as a side project in 1999 and was last edited in 2003. Many of the comments are still relevant and it would be interesting to compare how some of the metrics faired in 1999 compared to 2013.
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Free downloadable mathematics poster:

Mathposter_by_DWilcox (2007): 

This is a general mathematics poster which this blogger designed for science and math information days in 2007.  While the design is original, the sub-topic descriptions  are based on centuries of accumulated knowledge and are not my describing my own research. The idea to include an interactive component (the chaos game by R.L.Devaney and co-authors)  was motivated by the objective to provide content for interactive information tables at science days. 

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We are all mathematicians
2013 comments: posted 11 Jan, edited 13-15 Jan
(by diane wilcox)

There are math popularisers who hold that you need to be a prodigy or math olympian at school to appreciate mathematical thinking. It does take doses of discipline and experience to be quick and accurate in the logic of some complex mathematical arguments, whether this be the proof of some perturbation theorem or simulation of  war games. Nevertheless, over the long haul,  the care of building and reflecting on consistent arguments can take one a long way.

The sort of complexity involved in describing an applied problem is sometimes similar to the design of a useful physical product or planning a big event. The art of abstraction, where the problem is stripped down to its elementary components, can make challenges much easier to grapple with. In fact some mathematicians find math problems easier to deal with than the physical real-life which we experience. Within a consistent mathematical framework, the honesty and preciseness of focus means that clean outcomes of trueness or falseness are generally attainable in the even advanced mathematical ideas and models . Back in complex day-to-day life, however, there is ambiguity and uncertainty. So while  the discovery of absolute "truth" is not always attainable, mathematics CAN serve as a tool for finding improved solutions as the limitations of models become understood.

As with most activities, you CAN learn with correctly-pitched learning material  and encouragement (and of course, adequate nourishment and a safe environment to sit quietly). Most people like context and can think from A to C via B. Now much maths gets taught with starting at C or going from A to C with the learner left missing something.

Repeating the above discussion on pivotal math concepts, all kinds of learning incorporate some sort of transition from existing knowledge to new knowledge. This is very much the case in mathematics and if you have faulty building blocks then you are off to a permanently shakey start. So if a learner can just sing numbers and not grapple that  "2" is a symbolic representation of a quantity of twoness (which is shared by all sets of 2 objects), then a keystone in his or her foundation is missing. It goes on from there.

Children are particularly good at math in topics are introduced in the correct unambiguous way. More importantly, mathematical thinking starts long before learning numbers. Kids figure out little cause-and-effect relationships right from birth - you can't beat the laws of nature. Construction toys and sequentially difficult puzzles and learning toys promote access to understanding engineering principles, consistent relationships between objects and laws of nature, etc, etc... So very general math education can start with some routine or formality by age 3 already.  The solution of getting kids to school from age 3, when learning consists of play, creates a safe place for kids to develop confidence as they enter school. Finally, this approach takes society closer to building socially supportive education system in which working parents are supported more adequately.