Peter Huckstep
Position/Status
- Lecturer in Mathematics Education
E-mail Address
pjh50@cam.ac.uk
Phone
(+44) 01223 767556
Qualifications
BA, MA, PhD
Membership of Professional Bodies/Associations
- British Society for Research into the Learning of Mathematics
- Mathematical Association - Reviews Editor for Mathematics in School
Profile
Following ten years spent in industry Peter Huckstep trained as a primary teacher. He taught for ten years in First, Middle and Primary schools in Greater London before being appointed as an advisory teacher for IMPACT, a project concerned with parental involvement in mathematics. This has been followed by fifteen years in teacher training specialising in mathematics education, the last eight of which have been spent at Cambridge.
Academic Area/Links
- Philosophy of Mathematics Education
- Primary teachers mathematics subject matter knowledge
- Notions of mathematical creativity
Research Topics
Peter Huckstep's interest in the pedagogy of mathematics is approached from the prior question of why it should be taught and learned in first place. One of his current enquiries concerns the extent to which failure to understand mathematics arises from a failure to see the point of it. Through philosophical research he has provided critical accounts of some of the various rationales, past and present, which have been invoked to justify the compulsory learning of mathematics. His examination of what mathematics is fit for has led him to examine, in particular, the claims that mathematics can provide a special form of 'mental training' and that it is essentially a creative activity. In this respect his work contributes to Teacher Knowledge, a research interest that he shares with other members of the mathematics education group with whom he is involved in empirical work as part of the SKIMA project.
Current Research Projects
Teachers' mathematics subject knowledge and classroom performance: The SKIMA project.
Course Involvement
- Undergraduate: BA
- Postgraduate: PGCE (Primary); PGCE (Key Stage 2/3); MPhil
Publications
Huckstep, P. (1999) How can mathematics be useful? Mathematics in School 28, 1, 15-17
Huckstep, P. and Rowland, T. (2000) Creative mathematics: real or rhetoric? in British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics Proceedings of the Day Conference University of Warwick Nov 1999, 79-84
Huckstep, P. (2000) Mathematics as a vehicle for mental training, in J. White, J & S. Bramall (eds.) Why Learn Mathematics? Institute of Education, University of London
Huckstep, P. (2000) The utility of mathematics education: some responses to scepticism, For the Learning of Mathematics 20, 2, 8 - 13
Huckstep, P. and Rowland, T. (2000) Creative mathematics: real or rhetoric? Educational Studies in Mathematics 42, 1, 81-100
Huckstep, P. (2001) Mathematics and human well-being, Mathematics in School 30, 2, 10-13
Huckstep, P. and Rowland, T. (2001) Being creative with the truth? Self-expression and originality in pupils' mathematics, C. Morgan and K. Jones (eds.) Research in Mathematics Education, The British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics 3 pp183 - 196.
Huckstep, P. (2002) Issues in the teaching and learning of arithmetic, Chapter 6 of L. Haggarty (ed) Aspects of Teaching Secondary Mathematics: Perspectives on Practice, London: Routledge/Falmer ISBN: 0-415-26641-6 pp91-104
Huckstep, P. (2002) Making Mathematics, Cambridge Journal of Education32, 3 pp 405-407
Hickman, R. and Huckstep, P. (2003) Art and Mathematics in Education The Journal of Aesthetic Education 37, 1 pp 1-12
Huckstep, P. Rowland, T. and Thwaites, A. (2003) Primary Teachers' Mathematics content knowledge: what does it look like in the classroom? Education-Line, BEI
Rowland, T., Huckstep, P. and Thwaites, A. (2003) 'Observing subject knowledge in primary mathematics teaching'. Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics 23(1) pp. 37-42
Rowland, T., Huckstep, P. and Thwaites, A. (2003) 'The choice of examples in the teaching of mathematics: what do we tell the trainees?'. Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics 23(2) pp. 85-90.
Rowland, T., Huckstep, P. and Thwaites, A. (2003) 'Novices' choice of examples in the teaching of elementary mathematics'. In A. Rogerson (Ed.) Proceedings of the International Conference on the Decidable and the Undecidable in Mathematics Education. (pp. 242-245). Brno, Czech Republic, September 2003.
Huckstep, P. (2003) Why should I learn algebra? - I've no intention of going there! Mathematics in School 32, 4 pp16-18
Rowland, T., Huckstep, P. and Thwaites, A. (2003) 'The knowledge quartet'. Proceedings of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics 23(3) pp. 97-103
Huckstep, P. (2004) Choosing Examples - Section 2 of Supporting the development of trainees' mathematical knowledge Primary National Numeracy resource pack - Department for Education and Skills
Huckstep, P. (2005) The Wonderwall - an oasis in the teaching of fractions Mathematics in School 34, 3 pp. 12-13.