Mathematical Representation at the Interface of Body and Culture


Book Description

Over the past two decades, the theoretical interests of mathematics educators have changed substantially—as any brief look at the titles and abstracts of articles shows. Largely through the work of Paul Cobb and his various collaborators, mathematics educators came to be attuned to the intricate relationship between individual and the social configuration of which she or he is part. That is, this body of work, running alongside more traditional constructivist and psychological approaches, showed that what happens at the collective level in a classroom both constrains and affords opportunities for what individuals do (their practices). Increasingly, researchers focused on the mediational role of sociomathematical norms and how these emerged from the enacted lessons. A second major shift in mathematical theorizing occurred during the past decade: there is an increasing focus on the embodied and bodily manifestation of mathematical knowing (e.g., Lakoff & Núñez, 2000). Mathematics educators now working from this perspective have come to their position from quite different bodies of literatures: for some, linguistic concerns and mathematics as material praxis lay at the origin for their concerns; others came to their position through the literature on the situated nature of cognition; and yet another line of thinking emerged from the work on embodiment that Humberto Maturana and Francisco Varela advanced. Whatever the historical origins of their thinking, mathematics educators taking an embodiment perspective presuppose that it is of little use to think of mathematical knowing in terms of transcendental concepts somehow recorded in the brain, but rather, that we need to conceptual knowing as mediated by the human body, which, because of its senses, is at the origin of sense. One of the question seldom asked is how the two perspectives, one that focuses on the bodily, embodied nature of mathematical cognition and the other that focuses on its social nature, can be thought together. This edited volume situates itself at the intersection of theoretical and focal concerns of both of these lines of work. In all chapters, the current culture both at the classroom and at the societal level comes to be expressed and provides opportunities for expressing oneself in particular ways; and these expressions always are bodily expressions of body-minds. As a collective, the chapters focus on mathematical knowledge as an aspect or attribute of mathematical performance; that is, mathematical knowing is in the doing rather than attributable to some mental substrate structured in particular ways as conceived by conceptual change theorists or traditional cognitive psychologists. The collection as a whole shows readers important aspects of mathematical cognition that are produced and observable at the interface between the body (both human and those of [inherently material] inscriptions) and culture. Drawing on cultural-historical activity theory, the editor develops an integrative perspective that serves as a background to a narrative that runs through and pulls together the book into an integrated whole.




Scientific & Mathematical Bodies


Book Description

This book is about the sensuous, living body without which individual knowing and learning is impossible. It is the interface between the individual and culture. Recent scholarship has moved from investigated knowing and learning as something in the mind or brain to understanding these phenomena in terms of the body (embodiment literature) or culture (social constructivism). These two literatures have expanded the understanding of cognition to include the role of the body in shaping the mind and to recognize the tight relation between mind and culture. However, there are numerous problems arising from ways in which the body and culture are thought in these separate research domains. In this book, the authors present an interdisciplinary, scientific initiative that brings together the concerns for body and for culture to develop a single theory of cognition centered on the living and lived body. This book thereby contributes to bridging the gap that currently exists between theory (knowing that) and praxis (knowing how) that is apparent in the existing science and mathematics education literatures.




Signs of Signification


Book Description

This book discusses a significant area of mathematics education research in the last two decades and presents the types of semiotic theories that are employed in mathematics education. Following on the summary of significant issues presented in the Topical Survey, Semiotics in Mathematics Education, this book not only introduces readers to semiotics as the science of signs, but it also elaborates on issues that were highlighted in the Topical Survey. In addition to an introduction and a closing chapter, it presents 17 chapters based on presentations from Topic Study Group 54 at the ICME-13 (13th International Congress on Mathematical Education). The chapters are divided into four major sections, each of which has a distinct focus. After a brief introduction, each section starts with a chapter or chapters of a theoretical nature, followed by others that highlight the significance and usefulness of the relevant theory in empirical research.




Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research


Book Description

The Cambridge Handbook of Engineering Education Research is the critical reference source for the growing field of engineering education research, featuring the work of world luminaries writing to define and inform this emerging field. The Handbook draws extensively on contemporary research in the learning sciences, examining how technology affects learners and learning environments, and the role of social context in learning. Since a landmark issue of the Journal of Engineering Education (2005), in which senior scholars argued for a stronger theoretical and empirically driven agenda, engineering education has quickly emerged as a research-driven field increasing in both theoretical and empirical work drawing on many social science disciplines, disciplinary engineering knowledge, and computing. The Handbook is based on the research agenda from a series of interdisciplinary colloquia funded by the US National Science Foundation and published in the Journal of Engineering Education in October 2006.




Adventures of Mind and Mathematics


Book Description

This monograph uses the concept and category of “event” in the study of mathematics as it emerges from an interaction between levels of cognition, from the bodily experiences to symbolism. It is subdivided into three parts.The first moves from a general characterization of the classical approach to mathematical cognition and mind toward laying the foundations for a view on the mathematical mind that differs from going approaches in placing primacy on events.The second articulates some common phenomena–mathematical thought, mathematical sign, mathematical form, mathematical reason and its development, and affect in mathematics–in new ways that are based on the previously developed ontology of events. The final part has more encompassing phenomena as its content, most prominently the thinking body of mathematics, the experience in and of mathematics, and the relationship between experience and mind. The volume is well-suited for anyone with a broad interest in educational theory and/or social development, or with a broad background in psychology.




Early Mathematics Learning


Book Description

​This book will gather current research in early childhood mathematics education. A special focus will be the tension between instruction and construction of knowledge. The book includes research on the design of learning opportunities, the development of mathematical thinking, the impact of the social setting and the professionalization of nursery teachers.​




Mathematics Education in the Early Years


Book Description

This book gives insight in the vivid research area of early mathematics learning. The collection of selected papers mirror the research topics presented at the third POEM conference. Thematically, the volume reflects the importance of this relatively new field of research. Structurally, the book tries to guide the reader through a variety of research aims and issues and is split into four parts. The first two parts concentrate on teacher professional development and child learning development; the third part pools research studies creating and evaluating designed learning situations; and the fourth part bridges focuses on parent-child-interaction.




Invited Lectures from the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education


Book Description

The book presents the Invited Lectures given at 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13). ICME-13 took place from 24th- 31st July 2016 at the University of Hamburg in Hamburg (Germany). The congress was hosted by the Society of Didactics of Mathematics (Gesellschaft für Didaktik der Mathematik - GDM) and took place under the auspices of the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction (ICMI). ICME-13 – the biggest ICME so far - brought together about 3500 mathematics educators from 105 countries, additionally 250 teachers from German speaking countries met for specific activities. The scholars came together to share their work on the improvement of mathematics education at all educational levels.. The papers present the work of prominent mathematics educators from all over the globe and give insight into the current discussion in mathematics education. The Invited Lectures cover a wide spectrum of topics, themes and issues and aim to give direction to future research towards educational improvement in the teaching and learning of mathematics education. This book is of particular interest to researchers, teachers and curriculum developers in mathematics education.




Mathematics Education in the Early Years


Book Description

This book presents chapters based on papers presented at the second POEM conference on early mathematics learning. These chapters broaden the discussion about mathematics education in early childhood, by exploring the debate about construction versus instruction. Specific sections investigate the teaching and learning of mathematical processes and mathematical content, early childhood teacher development, transitions for young children between home and preschool, between home and school and between preschool and school. The chapters use a range of innovative theoretical and methodological approaches which will form an interesting basis for future research in this area.




Semiotics in Mathematics Education


Book Description

This volume discusses semiotics in mathematics education as an activity with a formal sign system, in which each sign represents something else. Theories presented by Saussure, Peirce, Vygotsky and other writers on semiotics are summarized in their relevance to the teaching and learning of mathematics. The significance of signs for mathematics education lies in their ubiquitous use in every branch of mathematics. Such use involves seeing the general in the particular, a process that is not always clear to learners. Therefore, in several traditional frameworks, semiotics has the potential to serve as a powerful conceptual lens in investigating diverse topics in mathematics education research. Topics that are implicated include (but are not limited to): the birth of signs; embodiment, gestures and artifacts; segmentation and communicative fields; cultural mediation; social semiotics; linguistic theories; chains of signification; semiotic bundles; relationships among various sign systems; intersubjectivity; diagrammatic and inferential reasoning; and semiotics as the focus of innovative learning and teaching materials.




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