PM's apology to codebreaker Alan Turing: we were inhumane

There's an interesting article in today's Guardian on a long overdue apology from the British government to gay mathematician Alan Turing, who committed suicide after being chemically castrated by the government.

The story of his life is a reminder of how mathematics can have an important role in society (in this case: in war) and how homophobia may blind people and governments even when faced with genius.

Gay issues in teacher education

Last year, the Norwegian newspaper Blikk did a little research on what Norwegian teacher education included on gay issues. The conclusion was depressing: "Ingen undervisning om homofili” (”No teaching about homosexuality"), claiming that the only teaching about homosexuality is the three-hour lecture that I give every year.

I don’t believe that the situation is quite this terrible, but I do believe that there is little in the way of systematic teaching in this area. Luckily there are some efforts. There are textbooks to come, and some information is provided by the authorities. Moreover, I am editing a “resource” for lecturers who want to include the topic in their teaching (on behalf of the group FHiOHL, and with money from the rector of the university). The second edition will be available this autumn.

Just a few weeks ago, a new study showed that almost half of Norwegian gay, male 10th graders are bullied in school. There is plenty of work to do.

Four main areas

In this blog, I will write about anything connected to my work, but it will tend to include more about my main research interests, which are:
1) History of mathematics in mathematics education
2) Gay issues in teacher education
3) ICT in mathematics education
4) Wikis in teacher education

To get this blog started, I will, in the days to come, write short posts on these four topics to introduce them.