What Is the Role of Communication in Mathematics Graduates’ Transition to Professional Work?

Abstract

In this chapter we continue our investigations of students who have made the transition to becoming mathematicians. We report on a study with mathematics graduates that focused on their views of the role of communication in their transition to professional work. Here, we use the notion of mathematical communication as another lens to investigate the move from study to work. Communication is a key professional (and indeed personal) skill, and the discipline of mathematics places particular demands on this skill and engenders particular approaches to its utilisation. We find that recent graduates are keenly aware of the importance of mathematical communication and attribute their professional successes or problems in large part to their abilities or lack of abilities for effective communication. In particular, we look at graduates’ ideas of mathematical communication, specifically with people who were not mathematically trained, and identify three conceptions: ‘jargon and notation’, ‘concepts and thinking’ and ‘strength’. We also identify three conceptions of learning mathematical communication: ‘trial and error’, ‘mediated by others and outside situations’ and ‘active, detached observation’. Rather than focusing on the more general aspects of interpersonal communication, such as working in teams, we concentrate on the descriptions by graduates of how they use mathematical communication in their employment and on their views of how they learnt that communication. Their experiences and reflections will be valuable for any student who is aiming to become a mathematician, and any teacher who is helping students in that endeavour.