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鈥淵ou鈥檒l hear people say all the time they can鈥檛 do math, and they think this is okay,鈥� says Lynda Colgan, associate professor of education at Queen鈥檚 and director of the Community Outreach Centre. 鈥淚n contrast, it鈥檚 socially unacceptable not to be able to read.鈥� Colgan thinks one reason for the tolerance of math illiteracy is that most of the math that people do on a daily basis is invisible. Invisible math is a problem.

鈥淲e know from a number of studies that parents hold very high standards for their children, they want them to do well in math but they don鈥檛 value math themselves. That dichotomy makes it impossible for children to succeed, because if the parents don鈥檛 value it, they鈥檙e not supporting it.鈥� Colgan takes a multifaceted approach to improving math literacy by dreaming up creative and fun initiatives to engage both children and their parents.

Raising an army of math advocates

Research in education shows that math anxiety is rampant among students, parents, and teachers. Colgan is directly addressing the twin woes of invisible math and negative attitudes by devoting herself to making math fun in the real world. Her projects have included a bi-weekly newspaper column devoted to everyday math, a children鈥檚 book of magic tricks with Kids Can Press (2011) entitled Mathemagic, and a video series for parents of elementary school children in Ontario. Parents are important, believes Colgan. Her goal is 鈥渢o establish a more positive disposition towards mathematics, in order for parents to see themselves as mathematicians, to see themselves as math role models, to see themselves as math supporters without having to know the content.鈥�

Since 2011, Colgan鈥檚 work has also been translated to the screen, in conjunction with TVOKids. The Prime Radicals, a children鈥檚 educational television series, has been bursting math anxiety bubbles in living rooms across Canada with its live action, character-driven drama. Each episode is based on Colgan鈥檚 research into how children learn 鈥� such as through humour and music 鈥� and takes multiple approaches to presenting math concepts, all grounded in the experiences of children.

Research on teaching

Education research involves following intuition of what works in teaching and what doesn鈥檛, and then examining empirically whether those intuitions are worth pursuit and worth sharing with other people. Colgan鈥檚 research looks at the effects of education outside the typical classroom scenario. Museums, guest appearances, community theatre 鈥� these are all examples of 鈥渋nformal education.鈥� Colgan鈥檚 work is adding support to the notion that rich, fundamental learning takes place in these settings, which also translates into greater success in school. Teaching outside the classroom has significant effects for teacher candidates as well. The low pressure environment alleviates their fears of science, and enriches their understanding of its relevance.

A rendezvous with science

One of Colgan鈥檚 main audiences is the general public. In 2011, she initiated the first Kingston Science Rendezvous. Four years later, the annual festival is a contender for the largest of its kind in Canada. The event invites science and technology organizations of all stripes to engage families through displays, experiments, and demonstrations. Part of Colgan鈥檚 impetus for this work is to bring the reality of the scientist out in the open. 鈥淚f you ask an average person to draw you a picture of a scientist they鈥檒l draw an Einsteinian character with whacky hair and they鈥檒l write things like 鈥榯hey鈥檙e lonely, they work in the lab all night,鈥欌�� explains Colgan. 鈥淏ut by having opportunities for scientists to make the work that they do accessible to the public鈥� they鈥檙e changing stereotypic perceptions. It helps people to understand that scientists are working to improve the quality of their lives.鈥�