Cooperating Opposites in Mathematics | Thomas Priestley | TEDxRiverfield Country Day School

Mathematics as a practice of shifting perspectives, and why moving between two viewpoints matters for learning. The talk builds on the "seer" and "sage" dynamic, which the speaker frames as cooperating opposites, and links this tension to math education and to the growing partnership with artificial intelligence. The speaker, Thomas Priestley, is a mathematics teacher at Riverfield Country Day School in Tulsa, where he teaches in the upper school. His background includes teaching mathematics at schools overseas, a philosophy degree from Davidson College, and a Master's in Education from Vanderbilt's Peabody School. This talk was given at an independently organized TEDx event.

• The "seer" and "sage" perspectives as cooperating opposites in learning
• Walking between these two worlds as part of robust mathematics
• Implications for math education and partnership with AI
• Speaker: Thomas Priestley, upper school math teacher at Riverfield Country Day School

This talk focuses on the shifts of perspective inherent in mathematical thinking, with particular focus on the "seer" and "sage" dynamic as necessarily "cooperating opposites" in the practice of learning. Examining these two perspectives, and the walking between their respective worlds that is inherent to robust mathematics, reveals an essential tension that both creates meaningful context for learning and makes this type of thinking worthwhile, with implications for both math education and our advancing partnership with artificial intelligence. Thomas was born and raised in a small college town in Tennessee with a strong appreciation for the liberal arts and the place of mathematics among them, as an essential and quintessentially human pursuit and source of perspective. He decided on Philosophy as an undergraduate major at Davidson College, before spending his early career teaching mathematics in American schools overseas, including in Costa Rica, China, Malta and finally Slovakia, where he met his future wife, Andrea. After a stop in Nashville, where Thomas completed his Masters in Education at Vanderbilt's Peabody School, they returned to Slovakia where their daughter Lily was born. The Priestleys moved to Tulsa in 2023, drawn by the educational philosophy of Riverfield Country Day School, where Lily now attends third grade and Thomas teaches in the upper school. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx