Hilary Shuard

Hilary Bertha Shuard CBE (born November 14, 1928 in Chester , † December 24, 1992 in Cambridge ) was a British expert on mathematical elementary school didactics .

life and career

Shuard was born to Robert William and Bertha Lilian Shuard. She completed a degree in mathematics at Oxford and Cambridge , which she completed with a bachelor's degree (1949) and two master's degrees (1955). In addition to her studies, Shuard was also active in sports; in Cambridge she received awards ( blues ) in field hockey and cricket . Even after graduating, she remained loyal to the sport and was President of the Cambridgeshire Women's Hockey Association from 1979 to 1989 .

Shuard began her teaching career in 1953 at Christ's Hospital School in Hertford before moving to Homerton College in Cambridge in 1959 , where she was almost exclusively entrusted with the training of teachers. From 1966 until her retirement in 1986 she was assistant director of the college and from 1961 to 1973 she also headed the department of mathematics.

Shuard became involved in the Mathematical Association , of which she was president for a year from 1985. In 1987 she was awarded the Order of the British Empire for her achievements . However, due to severe injuries from a car accident, the award could only be made late.

She died suddenly on Christmas Eve 1992 in Cambridge.

Positions

Shuard believed that all too often children were viewed as empty vessels to be filled with mathematical content. Rather, children are capable learners and already full of experiences that need to be used. She represented these views in the BBC documentary Twice Five Plus the Wings of a Bird from 1985.

In 1982 she worked on the so-called Cockcroft Report on mathematics education in British schools. As a result, she vehemently took the view that children should learn to use pocket calculators in primary school . Classic arithmetic with pen and paper should not be replaced, but rather supplemented in a meaningful way. She repeated these views at the International Congress on Mathematical Education , where she recently received a lot of approval.

Shuard always tried to bring elementary school education into the public eye. This is how she got the magazine TES ( Times Educational Supplement ) to give its 1992 Teacher of the Year Award to a primary school teacher. The year 1988 was proclaimed Primary Mathematics Year in Great Britain on her initiative .

Fonts

Author

• Primary mathematics today. with Elizabeth Williams , Longman, London 1970, ISBN 0-582-43029-1 .
• The mathematics curriculum: from graphs to calculus. Blackie & Son Ltd., London 1977, ISBN 0-216-90341-6 .
• Teaching calculus. with Hugh Neill , Blackie, Glasgow 1982, ISBN 0-216-91083-8 .
• In-service education in primary mathematics. with Mary Timothy Pinner, Milton Keynes: Open University Press 1985, ISBN 0-335-15023-3 .
• Primary mathematics today and tomorrow. Longman, 1986, ISBN 0-582-17421-X .
• The Homerton LOGO manual. with Fred Daly, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1987, ISBN 0-521-33723-2 .
• Children, mathematics and learning. with others, Simon & Schuster, London 1990, ISBN 0-750-10110-5 .
• Calculators, Children and Mathematics. with others, Simon & Schuster, London 1991, ISBN 0-750-10111-3 .
• Working with groups of teachers. with others, Simon & Schuster, London 1991, ISBN 0-750-10113-X .

Editor

• Teachers of mathematics: some aspects of professional life. with Douglas Quadling , Harper & Row, London 1980, ISBN 0-063-18174-6 .
• Children reading mathematics. with Andrew Rothery , Murray, London 1984, ISBN 0-719-54093-3 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Obituary on independent.co.uk , accessed June 10, 2017
2. ↑ ^{a b} Profile on prabook.com , accessed on June 10, 2017
3. ↑ ^{a b c d} Obituary on cambridge.org , accessed June 10, 2017
4. ^ Lyn English : Handbook of international research in mathematics education. Mahwah, NJ, 2002, p. 82, ISBN 0-805-83371-4 .