The Montana
Mathematics
Enthusiast
By Candis Legacy &
Ryan Thompson
University of Calgary
Now The Mathematics Enthusiast
both a print and on-line journal
About the Journal
• It is “an Eclectic Research Journal affiliated to
Psychology of Mathematics Education- North
American Chapter and Dept of Mathematical
Sciences- The University of Montana”
• Published bi- or tri-annually with additions of
publication of occasional monograph books
The Beginnings of the E-Journal
•Bharath Sriraman was a newbie to Montana in 2003 when he
stepped up to the plate when no one else would, after its predecessor
The Montana Math Teacher fizzled out.
•It was tough to begin so he convinces four of his keen and talented
undergrad elementary pre-service teachers to contribute the articles
for the first issue.
Founder and current
chief editor
Dr. Sriraman’s Journey to the Journal
(in his own words)
“As a kid, I was really into periodicals of all kinds,
particularly Hergé’s Tintin books, as well as
Goscinny and Uderzo’s Asterix. I loved the care
with which every frame in these books were
arranged with attention to nuance, detail, and
always having the story situated in some historical
context. With Tintin, it was a reporter going
around the world on amazing adventures, and
many of the stories had a very real political /real
context to it besides the imaginative elements. “ -- Sriraman 2011 (e-mail)
Inspirations to the Journal
• Interchange (Calgary based journal with Ian Winchester )
• For the Learning of Mathematics (David Wheeler)
Other People Involved
• Paul Ernest, University of Exeter, UK. Is in the editorial staff
• Notable mentions: Hyman Bass and Reuben Hersh
(Contributors over the years)
• Influence: David Wheeler, Ian Winchester, Reuben Hersh, Lyn
English, Paul Ernest, Robert Sternberg, Donald Ambrose, Brian
Greer, Gabriele Kaiser (in terms of their writing and/or writing
styles)
Common Threads
Challenging
Perspectives
Readable
Accessible
Dialogue
Diverse
Critical
International
The Early Years
• Some of the goals:
–
–
–
–
Voices and ideas to be heard, reflected on and discussed
Have accessibility and a wide range of audience
Peer reviewed
Provide an outlet
• Began in April 2004
• Initial struggle to get submissions followed by rapid
growth
• Began to become more “international”
• The journal primarily address the role of teaching and
learning at all levels
Middle Years
• Name change to The Mathematics
Enthusiast in 2011
• Introduction of Monograph series,
which comprises of a number of books
focusing on a diverse range of specific
theme such as Social Justice,
Connections to Arts and Sciences.
“The Monograph series started out because at one point in
2007, I had so much energy and a constant stream of
ideas, that there needed to be an outlet for it, so the
monographs started- and they’ve done remarkably well
and addressed a variety of topics …”--- Sriraman 2011 (email)
Where it is now (True to its intent)
• Overly-complex articles are occasionally rejected in an attempt to
keep the journal accessible to the average reader.
• Articles are geared toward an audience comprised of “advanced
undergraduate/beginning graduate students of mathematics,
practicing teachers and those that enjoy mathematics
recreationally”; as well as an international audience, which is
evident in the following distribution of audiences:
– 35%- North America; 18%- Western and Central Europe; 12%Scandinavia; 12% -Asia; 8% -Middle East; 8%- Australia and NZ; 4%Africa; 3% -South America.
– Became a print journal with Information Age Publishing in 2008 but
has retained free online accessibility
“The journal is mutating with the changing times, and reveals some
of the benefits of globalization and technology.” … Sriraman (2005)
Growth over the years
Number of Countries Accessed
“It is evident that there is a sort
of an exponential growth, but as
you know things plateau out
because there are always
constraints in any system,
human or otherwise.”…
Sriraman 2011 (e-mail)
120
Number of Countries
that Accessed Journal
100
80
60
40
20
0
0
1
2
3
Year of Publication
4
5
6
7
“… there is a correspondence between the way the
journal blossomed and the amount of travel I was
undertaking as well as the scholarship I was
involved in with collaborators. “-Sriraman (2011)
The Under-Heard Voices
• In being true to one of their original goals, it
aims to “help non-English speaking authors
from under-represented regions, to the extent
we can to publish their work, by finding
appropriate reviewers and other means of
support.”…Sriraman (2009)
The Focus
• The current content seems to be a mixture of
mathematics content, practical classroom
applications, interesting concepts, responsecounter response argument and research
related to mathematics education as a whole.
References
• All journals and editorials on:
http://www.math.umt.edu/tmme/
• www.umt.edu/math/people/sriraman.html
• Sriraman, B, The Montana Mathematics
Enthusiast, Vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 138-267 (2007)
• Sriraman, B, The Montana Mathematics
Enthusiast, Vol. 2, no. 2, (2005)
• Sriraman, B, To Publish or Not to Publish, The
Montana Mathematics Enthusiast, Vol. 6, no. 1 &
2, pg. 1 (2009)