Mathematics Education and Language: Interpreting Hermeneutics and Post-Structuralism

by Tony Brown

Overview

Contemporary thinking on philosophy and the social sciences has primarily focused on the centrality of language in understanding societies and individuals; important developments which have been under-utilised by researchers in mathematics education. In this revised and extended edition this book reaches out to contemporary work in these broader fields, adding new material on how progression in mathematical learning might be variously understood.
A new concluding chapter considers how teachers experience the new demands they face.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780792369691
Publisher:	Springer Netherlands
Publication date:	05/31/2001
Series:	Mathematics Education Library , #20
Edition description:	2nd rev. ed. 2001
Pages:	306
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.36(d)

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements. About the Author. Introduction. Short Review of Recent Research. 1. Hermeneutics and Mathematics Education. 2. The Production of Mathematical Meaning: A Post-Structuralist Perspective. 3. Sharing Mathematical Perspectives. 4. Some Lessons. 5. The Phenomenology of the Mathematics Classroom. 6. Teacher-Student Interactions. 7. Narratives of Learning Mathematics. 8. Mathematics and Language. 9. Developing Teacher Practice. 10. Mathematical Cultures. 11. The Social Constitution of Mathematics. References. Name Index. Subject Index.

Editorial Reviews

This book examines the way in which language and interpretation underpin the teaching and learning of mathematics. It draws on the work of writers including Gadamer and Ricoeur on hermeneutics, Habermas on critical social theory, Saussure on linguistics, Foucault on post-structuralism, and Schütz on social phenomenology. Most of the examples offered describe elementary students learning mathematics in culturally and linguistically diverse classrooms, although there is also some discussion of work taking place in teacher education courses. This second edition adds material on progression in mathematical learning. A new concluding chapter considers how teachers experience the new demands they face. Brown teaches in the Institute of Education at Manchester Metropolitan University. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

‘Mathematics Education and Language is a highly recommendable book. The book contains many richly described episodes of mathematical activities.'
Linguistics and Education, 12:2 (2001)

From the Publisher