Luis Radford - Böcker

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.

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.

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.

The Theory of Objectification: A Vygotskian Perspective on Knowing and Becoming in Mathematics Teaching and Learning presents a new educational theory in which learning is considered a cultural-historical collective process. The theory moves away from current conceptions of learning that focus on the construction or acquisition of conceptual contents. Its starting point is that schools do not produce only knowledge; they produce subjectivities too. As a result, learning is conceptualised as a process that is about knowing and becoming.Drawing on the work of Vygotsky and Freire, the theory of objectification offers a perspective to transform classrooms into sites of communal life where students make the experience of an ethics of solidarity, responsibility, plurality, and inclusivity. It posits the goal of education in general, and mathematics education in particular, as a political, societal, historical, and cultural endeavour aimed at the dialectical creation of reflexive and ethical subjects who critically position themselves in historically and culturally constituted mathematical discourses and practices, and who ponder new possibilities of action and thinking. The book is of special interest to educators in general and mathematics educators in particular, as well as to graduate and undergraduate students.

The Theory of Objectification: A Vygotskian Perspective on Knowing and Becoming in Mathematics Teaching and Learning presents a new educational theory in which learning is considered a cultural-historical collective process. The theory moves away from current conceptions of learning that focus on the construction or acquisition of conceptual contents. Its starting point is that schools do not produce only knowledge; they produce subjectivities too. As a result, learning is conceptualised as a process that is about knowing and becoming.Drawing on the work of Vygotsky and Freire, the theory of objectification offers a perspective to transform classrooms into sites of communal life where students make the experience of an ethics of solidarity, responsibility, plurality, and inclusivity. It posits the goal of education in general, and mathematics education in particular, as a political, societal, historical, and cultural endeavour aimed at the dialectical creation of reflexive and ethical subjects who critically position themselves in historically and culturally constituted mathematical discourses and practices, and who ponder new possibilities of action and thinking. The book is of special interest to educators in general and mathematics educators in particular, as well as to graduate and undergraduate students.