I Don't Do Math: Ann Piché Panel Discussion

Join artist Ann Piché and Professors Daniel Ansari and Darja Barr for an interdisciplinary discussion that contextualizes dyscalculia and explores how changing notions of mathematics and math education have shaped, and continue to shape, our history and society.

“I don’t do math” is a photographic series referencing dyscalculia, a learning difference affecting a person’s ability to understand and manipulate number-based information. The exhibition will be accompanied by pedagogical information and activities for visitors and students, as well as an artist talk and two panel discussions.

This initiative seeks to raise awareness about the challenges posed by dyscalculia with educators, fellow mathematicians, and parents, and to normalize its existence, leading to early detection and augmented support. In addition, it seeks to reflect on and question broader issues and assumptions about the role and significance of Mathematics and Math education in today’s changing socio-cultural and economic contexts.

Photographer Ann Piché is using her artistic practice both to document the struggles experienced by people affected by dyscalculia, and to educate math educators, students, and parents about its effects and potential support strategies. In this proposed exhibition, she will present abstract images accompanied by their mathematical formulae. The images visually translate unfamiliar mathematical equations into something familiar - the photograph. Images and formulas aim to transmit the frustration dyscalculics must feel living in a number-centric world. The accompanying text-based panels guide the viewer through the assumptions and the difficulties that people affected by dyscalculia must face. The proposed series will consist of 15 large photographs and 5 text-based panels, including work produced during fieldwork visits in Prof. Amenda Chow and Prof. Sarah Mayes Tang’s Calculus and Symmetry classes; Prof. Pam Sargent’s business calculus class (all three professors are from the dept. of Math.); Prof. Ida Chan’s pre-calculus class (dept. of Math., York University); and Pamela Brittain’s K-12 and curriculum education program (OISE).

More information about the events and the participants. To RSVP please visit https://uoft.me/nc-i-dont-do-math-exhibition. 

Meet the Guest Speakers:

Daniel Ansari is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and the Faculty of Education at Western University in Canada, where he heads the Numerical Cognition Laboratory (www.numericalcognition.org). Ansari and his team explore the developmental trajectory underlying both the typical and atypical development of numerical and mathematical skills, using both behavioral and neuroimaging methods. Ansari has a keen interest in connecting the science of learning with education and served as the President of the International Mind, Brain and Education Society (IMBES) from 2014-2016 and is currently the Director of the Centre for the Science of Learning at Western University. Ansari has published over 100 articles in peer-reviewed journals. He is a member of the The College of the Royal Society of Canada, and a Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science as well as the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

Darja Barr is a mathematics educator in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Manitoba since 2007. She has a Bsc in Mathematics and Management Sciences from the University of Manitoba, an MSc in Mathematical Biology from the University of Alberta, and a PhD in Mathematics Education from the University of Manitoba. She has organized many outreach and education projects focused on spreading the joy of mathematics and her research on students’ struggles with mathematics.

This initiative is supported by JHI Program for the Arts, the ArtSci Salon & the Fields Institute, and New College. Many thanks to the Departments of Mathematics at the University of Toronto and York University for their collaboration.