Introduction: The Eighties

Those of you who read my last editorial know (at least) two things about me as an individual. First, I am a child of the eighties. As a child of the eighties, I grew up playing video games. Of course, video games turn your brain to mush. As such, my brain has been turned into mush. Second, when introducing the ten articles chosen to represent the seventies—as part of our continuing celebration of 50 years of the Saskatchewan Mathematics Teachers’ Society (SMTS)—I revisited the 1970s and shared some of the events and moments that stood out, for various reasons. As I did with the editorial for the seventies, despite my video game induced mush-brain, I revisited the 1980s and have chosen to share certain moments that stood out, again, for various reasons. In my attempt to “set the stage” for the ten articles that have been chosen to represent the eighties, let us, first, revisit some major moments in: world and Canadian history, popular culture and mathematics (teaching and learning).