Louise Doris Adams

L. D. Adams
Born
Louise Doris Adams

2 July 1889
Gloucester[1]
Died24 December 1965 (1965-12-25) (aged 76)
Worthing[2]
NationalityBritish
Alma materBedford College, London
Scientific career
FieldsMathematics

Louise Doris Adams (2 July 1889 – 24 December 1965) was a British mathematics educator and school inspector (HMI) who wrote the 1953 book A Background to Primary School Mathematics (Oxford University Press)[3][4] and became president of the Mathematical Association for 1959.[5]

Life

Adams earned a degree from Bedford College, London, with second-class honours in mathematics in 1911.[6][7] Her work as an inspector was centred on the West Country and particularly Bristol; she retired from the inspectorate in 1950.[6]

She joined the Mathematical Association in approximately 1915, and was a member for 51 years;[6] she became a member of the Teaching Sub-Committee of the Mathematical Association in 1946, of which she became Chairman in 1954 and remained a member until her death.[8] She was also a member of the Applications, Arithmetic and Secondary Modern Sub-Committees. When she became president of the Mathematical Association in 1959, she became only the second woman to hold that office since the association's founding in 1871, after Mary Cartwright in 1951,[5][6] and the second HMI, after W. C. Fletcher in 1939.[5][9]

She died in 1965.[6]

Contributions

Adams had "considerable experience as a teacher and inspector" and wrote her book, A Background to Primary School Mathematics (1953), on the basis of that experience.[4] It was aimed at teachers of primary-school mathematics, and used case studies from approximately 80 students to advocate linking the teaching of mathematics to the individual experiences of the students.[3] Her book "inspired many teachers" and prefigured a greater emphasis on play with mathematical tools over rote learning.[10]

As a member of the Teaching Sub-Committee of the Mathematical Association, Adams helped shift the association's focus "from teaching to learning"[10] and from what should be taught to how it should be taught, and promoted the inclusion of primary as well as secondary education within the project's scope.[6] Both her book and her presidential address to the Mathematical Association were a major impetus to the reform of mathematical education in the UK, as was the Teaching Sub-Committee's 1955 report The Teaching of Mathematics in Primary Schools, which she was instrumental in writing.[10][6]

References

  1. ^ The 1939 Register National Archives
  2. ^ England & Wales Government Probate Death Index 1858-2019
  3. ^ a b Cook, H. M. (September 1954), "Review: A Background of Primary School Mathematics", The Mathematical Gazette, 38 (325): 238–239, doi:10.2307/3609069, JSTOR 3609069
  4. ^ a b "The teaching of arithmetic – Improvements on current methods", Educational Research, 1 (1): 74–79, January 1958, doi:10.1080/0013188580010108
  5. ^ a b c Presidents of the Association, Mathematical Association, retrieved 2018-10-06
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Williams, E. M.; Sowden, K. (October 1965), "Obituary: Louise Doris Adams", The Mathematical Gazette, 50 (373): 255–258, doi:10.1017/S0025557200054498, JSTOR 3614670
  7. ^ University of London, the Historical Record: (1836-1912) Being a Supplement to the Calendar, Completed to September 1912, University of London Press, 1912, p. 523
  8. ^ Melrose, Jean (1986), The mathematical association diploma in mathematical education as an instrument for in-service education for primary school teachers, Durham theses, Durham University, pp. 20–21
  9. ^ Rollett, A. P. (October 1968), "Presidential address: Class consciousness", The Mathematical Gazette, 52 (381): 219–241, doi:10.2307/3614161, JSTOR 3614161
  10. ^ a b c Breakell, John (September 2001), The teaching of mathematics in schools in England and Wales during the early years of the Schools Council 1964 to 1975 (PDF), University of London, pp. 18, 176–177, 249