I think that the nature of mathematics has been changing steadily over the last number of years, especially as it relates to teaching and to young learners. It used to be defined by its impenetrability, in the same way that we don't question how our taxes are done, or how the oil is changed in our car. It was for that same reason demonized (I'm talking to you, Galileo) and allowed to be intimidating.
I see math as something that can definitely not be held in isolation. There is nothing that does not rely on and incorporate elements of math, and vice versa. Music, agriculture, mechanics, fishing, astronomy and sport all rely equally on our innate understandings of pattern, symbology and physics as well as what we have learned about math explicitly. I think that an important distinction has been made in recent years, which is that performance as a math-remembering machine does not equate to mathematical intelligence.
The acknowledgement of naturalistic, kinesthetic and other types of intelligence as being equal to "mathematical" intelligence is a very important step as well. It is reassuring to me as a teacher that I will be able to impart appropriate and adequate mathematical knowledge to my students in a way that is meaningful to them and will be meaningful in their lives.
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