Book Review: Hoyles, C., Noss, R., Kent, P., & Bakker. A. (2010). Improving mathematics at work: The need for techno-mathematical literacies

Book Review: Hoyles, C., Noss, R., Kent, P., & Bakker. A. (2010). Improving mathematics at work: The need for techno-mathematical literacies London: Routledge. Hardcover: ISBN: 978-0-415-48007-9 List price: £75.00 (UK) 13000(US)210pagesPaperback:ISBN:978−0−415−48008−6Listprice:£2499(UK) 47.95 (US). 210 pagesAs mathematics educators, we constantly read about the failure of our schools to prepare graduates for the mathematical requirements of the modern workplace. Most of us accept this idea without question, perhaps because calls for more mathematics education keep us employed. Yet it is surprising that more of us do not question this ‘failure’, given the conventional wisdom that adults rarely use the mathematics they learned in school and that, when mathematics is needed in the workplace, computers handle it. In this era of national standard setting and high-stakes mathematics examinations for school students, it seems to behoove us to understand what are the mathematical requirements of today’s jobs and how well today’s workers meet them. Celia Hoyles, Richard Noss, Phillip Kent, Arthur Bakker, and other colleagues have led this area of research for years through major projects exploring the mathematics used by entry level, intermediate, and professional employees in a range of fields. Improving Mathematics at Work is the most recent and possibly most extensive report on their ethnographic and design-based workplace studies. I wish that educational policy makers and mathematics standards-setting groups would read the entire output of this research team, to ground their plans in reality. This book may have an especially accessible format, and mathematics educators at the university, secondary, and vocational levels should also enjoy this book: It offers an unusual opportunity for gaining insights into the worlds of work (beyond the world of education) for which we are preparing students, to see what workers actually do and think about every day, and what sort of mathematics comes into play. (http://www.springerlink.com/content/65872w3764234577/