Talk:Moore method

E. H. Moore racism
Here is an earnest question: while Moore's racist views definitely should be included in his biography (there is no denying them), how is this relevant for the associated "Moore Method" wikipedia page? Do we also add to any mention of MLK the fact that he was unfaithful to his wife (while a being a priest of all professions), or that he plagarised his dissertation? No, because, those things are not relevant to most discussions of MLK's life and teachings.

For these reasons I recommend we remove "racist" from this page (but not from his biography). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 198.167.195.36 (talk) 09:59, 25 February 2021 (UTC)

I second this diplomatic removal recommendation based on relevancy in this article. Also, while Moore is recognized today as racist, his "fame" comes from his mathematics and teaching. Neomon (talk) 00:29, 6 March 2021 (UTC)

I also second this recommendation. Gandhi is another example: his views on black people were at one point questionnable, yet this does not need to be mentioned in every story about him (but it should be mentioned in his biography).

E. H. Moore influence?
I've heard that R.L. Moore, and another great "discovery learning" educator Arnold Ross, were both influenced by the teaching style of E.H. Moore. (R.L. Moore was a student of E.H. Moore, and Arnold Ross was a student of Dickson, who was a student of E.H. Moore.) If this is true, and anyone can supply details, it might be an interesting addition to this article.Singularitarian 10:25, 22 September 2007 (UTC)

Earlier occurrences of the teaching style
Andre Weil, a renowned mathematician, recounts in his biography "The Apprenticeship of a Mathematician" an influential teacher from his childhood circa 1918. The description of the lessons is strikingly similar to that of the moore method.

I'm unsure how appropriate an addition this is to the entry, so I'm just noting it here for more experienced wikipidians to pick up one day.

List of Moore Method Users
(Modified) Moore Method is becoming quite popular these days. Is a list of people who use this technique beneficial to the article? 76.84.126.187 (talk) 20:25, 18 June 2014 (UTC)
 * I assume you are questioning whether we should keep the "Current usage" section, as opposed to offering to add more examples. I've just tagged that section with cleanup-list. I don't object to keeping a few notable (and cited) examples, but the list has grown too large to be useful, IMO. - dcljr (talk) 22:59, 2 July 2014 (UTC)

Re: R.L. Moore Racism
"How is this relevant for the associated 'Moore Method' wikipedia page?" The Moore method is specifically about teaching university mathematics, and I think it's important to recognize that Moore was not very good at that job, as he refused to teach certain people based on nothing but the color of their skin. Further, to those who may find his teaching style ineffective or, perhaps, alienating, I think it's worth pointing out that this style was (quite clearly) not developed with any sort of inclusivity in mind, considering that he's explicitly racist. The whataboutism in your response is unnecessary.

For these reasons, I think it's important to include that he was a racist. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 68.99.179.213 (talk) 02:40, 26 February 2021 (UTC)


 * Agreed.
 * As a past college math instructor, I came to this page looking for the term now used by math professionals in place of "Moore method". It would have been helpful to me to find a paragraph noting that, while many mathematicians still use this method to teach, it is often referred to as [fill in my blank] to disassociate it from the racism associated with Moore. Hburgiel (talk) 12:21, 6 October 2023 (UTC)
 * Update: I think the words I was looking for are "inquiry based learning". Hburgiel (talk) 13:36, 6 October 2023 (UTC)