Math Values for the New Year
By Kira Hamman
Well, it’s that time again, when the imaginary structure we’ve imposed on the Earth’s rotation around the sun calls on us to observe certain rituals: fireworks, champagne, songs nobody understands. A giant ball dropping in New York City, and various other things dropping in other parts of the country. Maybe a new calendar. And maybe that simultaneously reviled and revered tradition: the New Year’s Resolution.
Maybe you love them. Maybe you hate them. Maybe you hate them but you do it anyway, because who doesn’t have a few things they’d like to improve on? Or maybe, like a couple of friends of mine, you and someone else in your life make resolutions for each other, as a way of asking for something you need from the relationship: more travel, less takeout, finally replacing the kitchen faucet. Whatever - I support you however you personally choose to observe or ignore this particular tradition. This post isn’t about that.
This post is a suggestion - or set of suggestions, really - for resolutions we might make as a community. All year, Math Values publishes posts with fantastic ideas and stories about incorporating the MAA’s core values - community, inclusivity, teaching & learning, and communication - into our personal and professional lives. Today, I offer some of those posts as inspiration for making positive change in 2025.
Community
2024 saw the conclusion of the longstanding Math Values stream Living Proof, and a more robust celebration of community in mathematics would be hard to find. In their final post, stream editors Allison Henrich and Matthew Pons quoted Steve Kennedy: “We can create a mathematical world where demoralizing, punishing struggle is not necessary.” Let’s resolve to work harder on creating that world in 2025.
Inclusivity
We also welcomed several new additions to Math Values in 2024, including Kung’s Quarter, a quarterly column in which Dave Kung examines policy and equity issues in math education. In June, Dave reported on a surprising study showing that all students learn at approximately the same rate pretty much no matter what. This startling result led him to ask “Are we in the mathematics community willing to change our minds about some students seemingly being better learners than others - and change our teaching practices to give everyone a more fair shot at success?” In 2025, let’s resolve to answer that question “yes!”
Teaching & Learning
There’s so much great teaching and learning content on Math Values that it’s really hard to choose any one thing. That said, Tim Chartier’s interview with Edmund Harriss really stood out this year as a fantastic example of broadening our understanding of what the teaching and learning of mathematics might look like. Edmund, whose work blurs the boundaries between math and art, tells Tim, “I think the key is to embrace failure. Try things to see what happens, and then pursue the things that succeed, rather than trying to create reliable systems.” As formerly reliable systems continue to crash down around us, this seems like great advice and an excellent resolution for 2025 and beyond.
Communication
Of course, Math Values is all about communication. Whether it’s grappling with the impacts of generative AI, demystifying applying for an NSF grant, amplifying the voices of rising mathematicians, or singing the praises of other MAA journals, at Math Values we want to talk about it. In 2025, won’t you resolve to communicate your own thoughts, ideas, and stories to this community? We want to hear from you!
Kira Hamman is the editor of Math Values. Her New Year’s resolution is to bring more new voices to the blog!