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Breaking Images: Iconoclastic Analyses of Mathematics and its Education - cover image
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Breaking Images: Iconoclastic Analyses of Mathematics and its Education

  • Brian Greer(editor)
  • David Kollosche(editor)
  • Ole Skovsmose(editor)
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TitleBreaking Images
SubtitleIconoclastic Analyses of Mathematics and its Education
ContributorBrian Greer(editor)
David Kollosche(editor)
Ole Skovsmose(editor)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0407
Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/OBP.0407
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
CopyrightBrian Greer; David Kollosche; Ole Skovsmose. Copyright of individual chapters are maintained by the chapter author(s).
PublisherOpen Book Publishers
Publication placeCambridge, UK
Published on2024-12-11
Series
  • Studies on Mathematics Education and Society vol. 2
  • ISSN Print: 2755-2616
  • ISSN Digital: 2755-2624
ISBN978-1-80511-321-8 (Paperback)
978-1-80511-322-5 (Hardback)
978-1-80511-323-2 (PDF)
978-1-80511-325-6 (HTML)
978-1-80511-324-9 (EPUB)
Short abstract

These twenty essays explore questions of mathematics as a topic of philosophy, but also the nature and purpose of mathematics education and the role of mathematics in moulding citizens. It challenges the biases and prejudices inherent within uninformed histories of mathematics, including problems of white supremacy, the denial of cultural difference and the global homogenization of teaching methods. In particular, the book contrasts the effectiveness of mathematics and science in modelling physical phenomena and solving technical problems with its ineffectiveness in modelling social phenomena and solving human problems, and urges us to consider how mathematics might better meet the urgent crises of our age.

Long abstract

Mathematics is an activity—something we do—not just something inert that we study. This rich collection begins from that premise to explore the various social influences, institutional forces and lived realities that shape and mould the study and practice of mathematics, and are moulded by it in turn.

These twenty-one essays explore questions of mathematics as a topic of philosophy, but also the nature and purpose of mathematics education and the role of mathematics in moulding citizens. It challenges the biases and prejudices inherent within uninformed histories of mathematics, including problems of white supremacy, the denial of cultural difference and the global homogenization of teaching methods. In particular, the book contrasts the effectiveness of mathematics and science in modelling physical phenomena and solving technical problems with its ineffectiveness in modelling social phenomena and solving human problems, and urges us to consider how mathematics might better meet the urgent crises of our age.

The book addresses anybody who is interested in reflecting on the role of mathematics in society from different perspectives. It allows mathematicians to ponder about the cultural connections of mathematics and provides new perspectives for philosophical, sociological and cultural studies of mathematics. Because of the book’s emphasis on education in mathematics, it is especially interesting for mathematics teachers and teacher educators to challenge their understanding of the subject.

Print length600 pages (vi+594)
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Dimensions156 x 42 x 234 mm | 6.14" x 1.65" x 9.21" (Paperback)
156 x 45 x 234 mm | 6.14" x 1.77" x 9.21" (Hardback)
Weight1124g | 39.65oz (Paperback)
1312g | 46.28oz (Hardback)
Media11 illustrations
4 tables
OCLC Number1478298300
LCCN2023513491
THEMA
  • PB
  • PBB
  • YPMF
BISAC
  • EDU029010
  • MAT015000
  • MAT000000
LCC
  • QA10.7
Keywords
  • Mathematics education
  • School mathematics
  • Human agency
  • Philosophy of mathematics
  • Historical dimensions
  • Cultural dimensions
  • politics and mathematics
Contents

1. Beginning

(pp. 1–22)
  • Brian Greer
  • Ole Skovsmose
  • David Kollosche

2. Why and how people develop mathematics

(pp. 25–60)
  • Brian Greer

3. Hardy’s deep sigh

(pp. 61–78)
  • Ole Skovsmose

4. Formalism, structuralism, and the doctrine of neutrality

(pp. 79–104)
  • Ole Skovsmose

5. Dehumanisation through mathematics

(pp. 105–144)
  • David Kollosche

6. A short commentary on Kollosche’s ‘Dehumanisation through mathematics’

(pp. 145–148)
  • Roy Wagner

7. Intuition revived

(pp. 149–174)
  • Ole Skovsmose

8. Human mathematics

(pp. 175–194)
  • Ole Ravn

9. The case of Ramanujan: Investigating social and sociomathematical norms outside the mathematics classroom

(pp. 195–212)
  • Felix Lensing

10. A performative and relational ethnomathematics

(pp. 213–234)
  • Aldo Parra

11. A critical conception of mathematics

(pp. 235–268)
  • Ole Skovsmose

12. Art and anti-mathematics

(pp. 269–290)
  • Houman Harouni

13. How children, under instruction, develop mathematical understanding

(pp. 293–334)
  • Brian Greer

14. Rethinking mathematics education

(pp. 335–372)
  • Alan H. Schoenfeld

15. Networks, controversies, and the political in mathematics education research

(pp. 373–404)
  • Lisa Björklund Boistrup
  • Paola Valero

16. Globalisation of mathematics education and the world’s first monoculture: Assessment spread’s association with consumerism and human capital

(pp. 405–434)
  • Mark Wolfmeyer

17. Bringing ethnomathematical perspectives into classrooms

(pp. 435–460)
  • Swapna Mukhopadhyay
  • Brian Greer

18. Mathematics education as a racialized field

(pp. 461–484)
  • Christopher C. Jett
  • Julius Davis

19. Gender, mathematics, and mathematics education

(pp. 485–538)
  • David Kollosche
  • Daniela Steflitsch
  • Kora Deweis-Weidlinger

20. Societal perceptions of mathematics and mathematics education

(pp. 539–568)
  • Melissa Andrade-Molina
  • Alex Montecino Muñoz

21. Beginning again

(pp. 569–574)
  • Brian Greer
  • David Kollosche
  • Ole Skovsmose
Locations
Landing PageFull text URLPlatform
Paperbackhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0407Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0407Full text URLPublisher Website
Hardbackhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0407Landing pagehttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0407Full text URLPublisher Website
PDFhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0407Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0407.pdfFull text URLPublisher Website
https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/95843Landing pagehttps://library.oapen.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12657/95843/obp.0407.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=yFull text URLOAPEN
https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/150745Landing pageDOAB
https://hdl.handle.net/2134/28148402Landing pagehttps://repository.lboro.ac.uk/ndownloader/files/51511643Full text URL
https://thoth-arch.lib.cam.ac.uk/handle/1811/830Landing pagehttps://thoth-arch.lib.cam.ac.uk/bitstreams/5dac4704-34c5-4f28-ab6d-e8795b3f3965/downloadFull text URL
https://archive.org/details/2befcccc-79c4-4fe9-9960-c0945f61c36cLanding pagehttps://archive.org/download/2befcccc-79c4-4fe9-9960-c0945f61c36c/2befcccc-79c4-4fe9-9960-c0945f61c36c.pdfFull text URLINTERNET ARCHIVE
https://zenodo.org/records/19850784Landing pagehttps://zenodo.org/records/19850784/files/2befcccc-79c4-4fe9-9960-c0945f61c36c_book.pdfFull text URLZENODO
HTMLhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0407Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0407/Full text URLPublisher Website
EPUBhttps://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/obp.0407Landing pagehttps://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0407.epubFull text URLPublisher Website
Contributors

Brian Greer

(editor)
https://orcid.org/0009-0007-5230-1904

Brian Greer began his research on mathematical cognition, before shifting his interest to school mathematics. That evolved to reflect a characterization of mathematics as a human activity embedded in historical, cultural, social and political – in short, human – contexts.

David Kollosche

(editor)
Full Professor for Mathematics Education Research at University of Klagenfurt
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1055-2418

David Kollosche is a full professor for mathematics education research at the University of Klagenfurt in Austria. He teaches mathematics, history of mathematics, philosophy of mathematics, and mathematics education to prospective secondary school teachers. His research focusses on theoretical foundations of mathematics education, the epistemology of mathematics, the sociology of mathematics education, and students’ perspectives on mathematics education.

Ole Skovsmose

(editor)
São Paulo State University
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1528-796X

Ole Skovsmose’s research has addressed landscapes of investigation, dialogue, students’ foreground, inclusive mathematics education, pedagogical imagination, mathematics in action, philosophy of mathematics education, and philosophy of mathematics. He has been professor at Aalborg University, Denmark, but is now associated to State University of São Paulo, Brazil. In 2024, he was awarded the Hans Freudenthal medal.

UK registered social enterprise and Community Interest Company (CIC).

Company registration 14549556

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