This paper explores the contributions of research to the field of adults learning mathematics (ALM) in the last twenty years. The results of the review of the literature on ALM show that the most cited studies that have been published in the last twenty years tend to focus on the field of numeracy to understand health data (such as understanding how to dose a medicine in a medical treatment). However, we know little about key aspects of how adults learn mathematics, what obstacles they encounter, and how they overcome them. This paper identifies the main gaps that ALM research faces in the coming years.
Proceedings of the 24th International Conference of Adults Learning Mathematics – A Research Forum (ALM).
This paper is a summary paper of the Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Adult Mathematics Education (AME). As the only thematic working group that focuses on adults’ lived experiences of mathematics, the research makes an important contribution to the field of Mathematics Education. The main themes in this group identify that adult numerical behaviour goes beyond the mathematics skills, knowledge, and procedures taught in formal education It is multifaceted, requiring the use of higher order skills of analysis and judgement, applied within a broad array of life’s contexts, experienced through a range of emotions. The research in this group points to the need to raise the profile of research that shows the benefits to adults of learning mathematics but also the long term economic disbenefits in the neglect of teaching and teacher training for this group.
