Writing to Learn Mathematics

Since 1997, Franco Vivaldi, Reader in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Queen Mary, University of London, has used short writing tasks as part of his teaching and assessment practices. He spoke to colleagues at a Writing in the Disciplines Exchange of Practice Forum about what he does and why, arguing both that writing can be used as a way of developing students’ mathematical understanding, and that students should be expected to learn to write. This article is based on a transcript of Franco’s talk….This article first appeared in Thinking Writing the newsletter of the Writing in the Disciplines initiative at Queen Mary, University of London (Summer/Autumn 2003)…