Title: Divergent thinking and the dialogue between biology and mathematics.

(keywords: - mathematics education, biology, divergent thinking, history)

Introduction: 500 words

• purpose of your essay, enquiry / experiment
• its significance (i.e. a justification)

• Significance
  • Mathematics
  • Biology
  • Dialogue
  • Education

• Write this last?

• key ideas in the literature (especially research literature)
• keep literature relevant to focus of enquiry, linked to it

• Divergent & Convergent thinking
• Methodology of biology
• Maths education in biology??

• PLM - Notes - 14/3/00. Draft introduction.
• PLM - Notes - 13/3/00. Draft introduction.
• A letter asking for students to experiment upon.
• Convergence and Divergence
• Notes for 'task'
• Absolutism & Relativism
• Guilford's 'structure of intellect' model
• Kolmogorov - Smirnov test
• PLM - Notes - 16/2/00. Vygotsky. Self and mutual in biology. Convergent / Divergent distributions for different subjects.
• PLM - Notes - 1/2/00. Divergent and convergent thinking in child development. North Devon District Hospital.
• PLM - Notes - 5/2/00. Divergent production of semantic classes and biological classification.
• PLM - Notes - 19-22/1/00. Views of maths questionaire. Guilford's structure of intellect model. Draft abstract.

• brief account of objectives of investigation
• details of the research paradigm and methodology
• planned gathering of data, methods, and their limitations

• divergent vs. divergent-convergent bias.
• language (figural, numeric, semantic)
• divergence vs. memory (informed testing vs. objective testing)

• PLM - Notes - 8/2/00. Measures of mathematical attainment and divergent thinking.
• Significance of tests
• PLM - Notes - 20/3/00. Tests of divergent thinking vs. memory. Possible role of Q methodology.
• PLM - Notes - 21/3/00. Vygotsky and problems of method.

• data, results and outcomes
• distinguish discription of results from your interpretation
• validity and generalisability of results
• link back to review of research

  Implications to:

  • Mathematics
  • Biology
  • Education

• summary of findings and significance
• what could you improve (eg. methodology)?
• limitations

• Fisher exact 2x2 test

Appendices