In order to be effective, some need to learn to communicate in ways that non-mathematicians will not find threatening or arrogant. We provide a Web page of Opportunities for Research Mathematicians. Susan Addington and Judy Roitman are two mathematicians who are respected by the education community. They will help us collect resources for a Web page with information for mathematicians about contemporary mathematics education, case histories about mathematicians who have fruitfully worked together with teachers and students, and a discussion forum on this topic. We also hope to search out and nurture good contributions to school pedagogy from the college and university communities.
Understanding is certainly important as well.
We college teachers don't have a particularly good record when it comes to communicating with the rest of the mathematics community. I'll give a few examples, but on another page . Communication could do a lot to meet the needs expressed above. The problem is that we don't know enough about what is appropriate for what circumstances. If you'd like to be involved in any of our school mathematics activities, please let me know.