Saturday, 5 January 2013

Neoumeracy - The Origins of Math Culture


Is it reasonable to suggest that adult mathematics education has always been a cultural activity that involves relationships between the ideological views of both ‘educator’ and ‘educated’? If so, it would be worthwhile to investigate the nature of the culture and conversations we use in contemporary mathematics education, and how we got here. 

Evaluations of mathematics parallel historical development describe how Absolutism evolved to inform ‘Modern’ mathematics  alongside Fallibilism which informed a Radical Constructivist Tradition. From the latter emerged Post-modernism,  and Poststructuralism

By considering the epistemological origins of these mathematics ‘cultures’, and by exploring how mathematics education has evolved, we can locate different theories and models  as they have emerged and often merged within and across paradigms, and how discourse has featured in them. While considering adult student and educator identity, and the enduring plasticity and power of ‘Mathematisation’ (Triadaffilidis, 1998) as a dialogic presence in contemporary adult education discourse, opportunities may arise to outline some impacts of these parallel traditions on educator and learner identity, as they influence adult mathematics education in contemporary settings.

Triadaffilidis, T. A. (1998). Dominant epistemologies in mathematics education: For the learning of mathematics, 18:2. 21-27.

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