The Algebra Project, Feature Talk, and the History of Mathematics

Abstract

Robert P. Moses (1935–2021) was an activist and educator who taught mathematics and studied philosophy. Bob Moses is renowned for his efforts to organize volunteers from around the country who came to Mississippi to help black Americans register to vote. Moses is less widely known as an education reformer, whose philosophy of mathematics shaped the Algebra Project, a curricular approach designed to teach algebra to adolescents. This paper considers what Moses calls “Feature Talk” as opposed to “People Talk.” People talk is any natural language. In contrast, feature talk is what results from the mathematization of natural languages when restrictions are placed on how language is used in problem-solving settings to make mathematical relations more tractable. Feature talk is an intermediary between ordinary languages, as commonly spoken, and formal notations, as written by mathematicians and scientists. Feature talk imposes rules that regiment ordinary language, as proposed by Quine. Moses’ concept of feature talk is useful for historians of mathematics, especially historians of algebra, who show us how past mathematicians regimented ordinary language in extraordinary ways before the development of algebraic symbolism. Feature talk highlights part of a powerful pedagogical strategy and provides insight into how mathematical practices are cultivated over time.