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I have just seen the Newsletter 3 for WMY2000. I would like to suggest that it would be worthwhile planning some major events around the theme of mathematics and visualisation & mental Imagery. Computer Scientists have largely usurped the term "visualisation', which used to refer to mental imagery and now refers to what is displayed on electronic screens. There is a growing awareness that throwing things on screens and sitting people in front of them is pedagogy. What rarely seems to be emphasized is the role of mental imagery in doing, teaching, and learning mathematics.
I suggest that mental imagery is a major under-exploited domain in mathematics education, and possibly in the teaching of mathematics itself. It would make a splendid topic for explicit work in the year 2000. I imagine it as the basis for work on popularising mathematical thinking, on mathematics education in schools and universities, and intersecting with computer science and other disciplines which use mathematics and mathematical displays. It is easy however to be swept away by screen images, and to forget the role of individual and collective mental imagery.
As you may imagine from my suggestion, I have thought a lot about this topic, written a few things, and helped chair a NATO conference on aspects connected with electronic screens. I am not interested in organizing events, but would like to be of assistance in planning events which focus on ways of working with mental imagery in and with mathematics.
Professor J. MASON
Centre for Mathematics Education
Mathematics and Computing Faculty
Open University
MILTON KEYNES MK7 6AA.
U.K.