Spiritual and Moral Development in Mathematics

Encouraging spiritual and moral development has come much more to the fore because of the renewed emphasis placed upon personal development within both the National Curriculum and the OFSTED Framework for Inspection.

These facets of development are not new as goals of education. Indeed, many teachers would say that they are fundamentally concerned with the education of the "whole child". However, establishing a shared understanding of what this means has proved to be difficult and, consequently, it has not always been seriously addressed by most subject teachers. It has, perhaps, only been the threat of impending inspection that has led schools to examine their provision more critically. There has also been a feeling that spiritual and moral development properly belong elsewhere than in a maths lesson - in RE, say, or in tutor period or assemblies.

The Charis Mathematics writing team members are convinced that moral and spiritual dimensions should be present in the teaching of their subject. In our work in preparing these resources, we have found three possible approaches to dealing with these dimensions. These approaches overlap and inter-relate. There may be - and probably are - others and we would be very interested to hear suggestions from colleagues.

Three Approaches

The first of these approaches is through recognising that mathematics has been developed and applied in a wide range of human situations. Consequently; it is possible to choose contexts which allow pupils to develop and use their mathematics while, at the same time, reflecting upon and discussing spiritual and moral dimensions of 'human issues'.

Unit One is an example of this kind of approach. It uses the 1991 Census as a context. While working on number and data-handling topics, pupils are also encouraged to consider the relative significance of people in society and how they personally respond to the issue of people who go missing.

Unit Two uses a range of mortality statistics to develop pupils' skills in applying probability theory while, at the same time allowing them to consider their own mortality and their attitudes to life and death. Money and finance have always provided a major application for mathematics.

Units Four and Five encourage reflection on how we use our money and the values that underlie this. We believe, as a team, that such contexts used in these ways offer an important contrast to the consumerist focus of many existing resources.

The second approach is through recognising how people have found that by exploring ideas within mathematics, they have also gained insight into broader areas. For example, Unit Seven explores the truth of a series of statements about prime numbers. Pupils investigate the validity of different statements and consider how they might prove or disprove them. They are then encouraged to reflect on how in general, they come to accept statements as true and how much they value finding truth.

Unit Three introduces the ideas of averages and norms and encourages pupils to question how they respond to people who 'deviate' from the norm. Unit Nine works on infinite sequences and encourages pupils to join with other mathematicians who have wrestled with the idea of infinity and its implications for understanding reality.

The third approach is through recognising how mathematics has been used to model and understand the universe. It is hoped that through this pupils will develop a sense of wonder at reality around them. Unit Six, for example, offers an introduction to fractals and, at the same time, encourages pupils to see that fractals, fascinating in their own right, still only offer a limited model of an even more wonderful world. Unit Eight seeks to introduce the Anthropic Principle through looking at a topological topic.

This pack contains a set of free-standing units mainly aimed at intermediate and higher level students at Key Stage 4. However, some units are also suitable for foundation level students and some of the ideas from other units could be adapted. The units cover a range of topics across all four attainment targets with the intention that they can be used as an alternative and more interesting way of delivering material already on the syllabus.

Each unit contains Teachers Notes (on tinted pages) and Student Sheets (on white for photocopying). The Teacher's Notes provide information on mathematical content with links to attainment targets, aspects of spiritual and moral development, mathematical knowledge assumed and special resources required. There is guidance on tirning; background information; additional sources and detailed notes on the activities, including answers.

Using the Materials

These units can he used in a variety of ways but they are designed to enable teachers and students to engage in discussion and thought about moral and spiritual matters whilst learning mathematics. Mathematics teachers have, traditionally, been hesitant about planning this type of lesson but these materials have been trialled in a variety of schools and have proved effective in stimulating such discussions.

Most units start with some questions or reading material to get students thinking about an issue so time needs to be built into the lesson for preliminary reading and/or discussion. The unit then leads into the mathematics but other opportunities for discussion occur and are indicated in the Teacher's Notes so that time can be allowed for such discussion in the lesson.

Preliminary reading could be set for homework. Discussion could easily be started by asking students to write down their responses to some of the questions and then sharing them with the class. The aim is not to provide all the answers hut to enable students to think about spiritual and moral issues.

Further guidance is given in the Teacher's Notes for individual units.

We are already working on another set of resources but we would welcome comments from users of the materials in this book and any suggestions on how these approaches can be developed and improved upon. There is a form at the end of the book which you can use, if you wish to respond, or you may prefer to send a letter or fax or e-mail.