Editor: Paul Ernest, University of Exeter
Mathematics education is now established world-wide as a major area of study, with numerous dedicated journals and conferences serving national and international communities of scholars. Research in mathematics education is also becoming more theoretically orientated. In addition to theories developed within the field itself, vigorous new perspectives are pervading it from disciplines and fields as diverse as psychology, philosophy, logic, sociology, anthropology, history, feminism, cognitive science, semiotics, hermeneutics, post-structuralism and post-modernism. The series Studies in Mathematics Education consists of research contributions to the field based on disciplined or multi-disciplinary perspectives that link theory with practice. It is founded on the philosophy that theory is the practitioner's most powerful tool in understanding and changing practice. Whether the practice is mathematics teaching, teacher education, or educational research, the series offers and will continue to offer new perspectives to assist in clarifying and posing problems and to stimulate debate. The series Studies in Mathematics Education will encourage the development and dissemination of theoretical perspectives in mathematics education as well as their critical scrutiny. It aims to have a major impact on the development of mathematics education as a field of study into the 21st century.
Current and Forthcoming Volumes
1. THE PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS EDUCATION, Paul Ernest (1991)
This is a well known exploration of the philosophy of mathematics and its pedagogical implications. Part one includes an extensive presentation of the social constructivist theory of learning and philosophy of mathematics. Part two includes a critique of British curriculum developments based on a theoretical model of ideologies of mathematics education. It concludes with an exposition of the 'public educator' perspective with its liberatory aims for mathematics education. Now in its second printing.
2. UNDERSTANDING IN MATHEMATICS, Anna Sierpinska (1994)
In this volume Anna Sierpinska tackles the central problem in mathematics education: understanding in mathematics. Her enquiry draws together strands from mathematics, philosophy, logic, linguistics and the psychology of mathematics education, as well as continental European research. She considers the contribution of the social and cultural contexts to understanding, and draws upon the work of a wide range of scholars, including Vygotsky and Foucault. The outcome is an important insight into both understanding and mathematics, valuable both for the teacher and the mathematician.
3. MATHEMATICS, EDUCATION AND PHILOSOPHY: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE, Edited by Paul Ernest (1994)
This book embodies a far-reaching interdisciplinary enquiry into philosophical and reflective aspects of mathematics and mathematics education. It offers both reconceptualisations and critiques of mathematics and mathematics education. The result is an important contribution to current debate. Contributors include: Reuben Hersh, David Bloor, Thomas Tymoczko, Valerie Walkerdine, Brian Rotman, George Gheverghese Joseph, Sal Restivo and Ubiratan D'Ambrosio.
4. CONSTRUCTING MATHEMATICAL KNOWLEDGE: EPISTEMOLOGY AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION, Edited by Paul Ernest (1994)
This book offers a panorama of complementary and forward looking perspectives on the learning of mathematics and epistemology from leading contributors to the field. Contributors include Ernst Von Glasersfeld, Leslie P. Steffe, Stephen Lerman, Michael Otte, Katherine Crawford, David Pimm, Dick Tahta, Falk Seeger, Heinz Steinbring, Stephen I. Brown, John Mason and Anna Sfard.
5. INVESTIGATING MATHEMATICS TEACHING: A CONSTRUCTIVIST ENQUIRY, Barbara Jaworski (1994)
Barbara Jaworski addresses a number of questions that are central to research on reform in mathematics education today. In this volume she attempts to critically but honestly chart her own developing ideas as she undertakes a several-year-long inquiry into mathematics teaching. She giving a very personal account of her developing conceptions, conjectures, thoughts and reflections, as they develop and complexify. Barbara succeeds in accounting for her research both genetically and biographically, simultaneously reconstructing the development of her ideas and giving a rigorous, critical and reflective account. This makes it one of the first publications in mathematics education to use narrative, biography, and to acknowledge the central presence of the researcher in the inquiry. In employing this latest development in interpretative educational and feminist research, the book will doubtless be very influential, and is essential reading for researchers interested in adopting a similar research methodology.
6. RADICAL CONSTRUCTIVISM: A WAY OF KNOWING AND LEARNING, Ernst von Glasersfeld (1995)
In this volume Ernst von Glasersfeld offers the definitive theoretical account of radical constructivism. It is an elegantly written and thoroughly argued account of this epistemological position, providing a profound analysis of its central concepts. The book traces two genealogies of the theory. The first is the constructivist strand in the history of philosophy from the pre-Socratics via Jean Piaget to the present. The second is his own intellectual biography, illustrating how a number of lines of thought became synthesised into radical constructivism. Given its diverse roots, this first full articulation of the theory is likely to have an influence that extends beyond mathematics education.
Editor: Paul Ernest, University of Exeter
Mathematics education is now established world-wide as a major area of study, with numerous dedicated journals and conferences serving national and international communities of scholars. Research in mathematics education is also becoming more theoretically orientated. In addition to theories developed within the field itself, vigorous new perspectives are pervading it from disciplines and fields as diverse as psychology, philosophy, logic, sociology, anthropology, history, feminism, cognitive science, semiotics, hermeneutics, post-structuralism and post-modernism. The series Studies in Mathematics Education consists of research contributions to the field based on disciplined or multi-disciplinary perspectives that link theory with practice. It is founded on the philosophy that theory is the practitioner's most powerful tool in understanding and changing practice. Whether the practice is mathematics teaching, teacher education, or educational research, the series offers and will continue to offer new perspectives to assist in clarifying and posing problems and to stimulate debate. The series Studies in Mathematics Education will encourage the development and dissemination of theoretical perspectives in mathematics education as well as their critical scrutiny. It aims to have a major impact on the development of mathematics education as a field of study into the 21st century.
Authors interested submitting book proposals consistent with the series philosophy are invited to contact the editor
Paul Ernest, University of Exeter, School of Education, Exeter, Devon EX1 2LU, United Kingdom, Phone: 392-264857, FAX: 392-264736, E-mail: PErnest@cen.ex.ac.uk
Current and Forthcoming Volumes
1. THE PHILOSOPHY OF MATHEMATICS EDUCATION, Paul Ernest, 1991
This is a well known exploration of the philosophy of mathematics and its pedagogical implications. Part one includes an extensive presentation of the social constructivist theory of learning and philosophy of mathematics. Part two includes a critique of British curriculum developments based on a theoretical model of ideologies of mathematics education. It concludes with an exposition of the 'public educator' perspective with its liberatory aims for mathematics education. Now in its second printing.
2. UNDERSTANDING IN MATHEMATICS, Anna Sierpinska, Summer 1994
In this volume Anna Sierpinska tackles the central problem in mathematics education: understanding in mathematics. Her enquiry draws together strands from mathematics, philosophy, logic, linguistics and the psychology of mathematics education, as well as continental European research. She considers the contribution of the social and cultural contexts to understanding, and draws upon the work of a wide range of scholars of current interest, including Vygotsky and Foucault. The outcome is an important insight into both understanding and mathematics, valuable both for the teacher and the mathematician.
3. MATHEMATICS, EDUCATION AND PHILOSOPHY: AN INTERNATIONAL PERSPECTIVE, Edited by Paul Ernest, Autumn 1994
This book embodies a far-reaching interdisciplinary enquiry into philosophical and reflective aspects of mathematics and mathematics education. It also addresses the central problem of the philosophy of mathematics education, concerning the impact of conceptions of mathematics on educational practice. It combines fallibilist and social philosophies of mathematics with exciting new analyses from post-structuralist and post-modernist theorists, offering both reconceptualisations and critiques of mathematics and mathematics education. The outcome is a set of new perspectives which bring out the human face of mathematics, as well as acknowledging its social responsibility. Many of the chapters are from leading thinkers in the field, and the result is an important contribution to current debate. Contributors include: Reuben Hersh, David Bloor, Thomas Tymoczko, Paul Ernest, Valerie Walkerdine, Brian Rotman, Jeff Evans, Philip J. Davis, Hao Wang, George Gheverghese Joseph, Sal Restivo and Ubiratan D'Ambrosio.
4. CONSTRUCTING MATHEMATICAL KNOWLEDGE: EPISTEMOLOGY AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION, Edited by Paul Ernest, Autumn 1994
This book offers a panorama of complementary and forward looking perspectives on the learning of mathematics and epistemology from leading contributors to the field. It explores constructivist and social theories of learning, and discusses the role of the computer in the light of these theories. It brings new analyses from psychoanalysis, Hermeneutics and other perspectives to bear on the issues of mathematics and learning. It enquires into the nature of enquiry itself, and an important emergent theme is the role of language. Finally it relates the history of mathematics to its teaching and learning. The book both surveys current research and indicates orientations for fruitful work in the future. It is essential reading for anyone interested in theoretical developments in mathematics education. Contributors include Ernst Von Glasersfeld, Leslie P. Steffe, Stephen Lerman, Michael Otte, Paul Ernest, Katherine Crawford, David Pimm, Dick Tahta, Falk Seeger, Heinz Steinbring, Stephen I. Brown, John Mason, Raffaella Borasi, Francesco Speranza and Anna Sfard.
5. INVESTIGATING MATHEMATICS TEACHING: A CONSTRUCTIVIST ENQUIRY, Barbara Jaworski, Winter 1994
Barbara Jaworski addresses a number of questions that are central to research in mathematics education today: What does an investigational or inquiry classroom look like? What does constructivism mean in practice? What impact does researching a teacher's classroom have on the teacher's beliefs and practices? How are theory, research and reflective practice interconnected? How does the researcher grow and change through engaging in classroom research? In this volume Barbara Jaworski attempts to honestly but critically chart her own developing ideas as she undertakes a several-year-long inquiry into mathematics teaching. She succeeds in giving a personal account of her developing conceptions, her conjectures, thoughts and reflections, as they develop and complexify. Barbara accounts for her research genetically and biographically, simultaneously reconstructing the development of her ideas and giving a rigorous, critical and reflective account. This makes it one of the first publications in the field of mathematics education to employ narrative, biography, and to acknowledge the central presence of the researcher in the inquiry. Since this is the latest development in educational and feminist research in the interpretative paradigm, the book will doubtless be very influential in stimulating work in this orientation, and is essential reading for researchers wishing to follow a similar path.
6. RADICAL CONSTRUCTIVISM: A WAY OF KNOWING AND LEARNING, Ernst von Glasersfeld
The most important theoretical perspective to emerge in mathematics education recently has been that of constructivism. In this volume Ernst von Glasersfeld offers the definitive theoretical account of radical constructivism. It is an elegantly written and thoroughly argued account of this epistemological position, providing a profound analysis of its central concepts. Although he indicates his debt to Jean Piaget (and indeed to collaborators such as Leslie P. Steffe), Glasersfeld shows that the roots of radical constructivism are much older. A great strength of the book consists in the two genealogies of knowledge which are offered as an orientating basis. The first is the constructivist strand in the history of philosophy from the pre-Socratics masters of Ancient Greece to the present. The second is his own intellectual biography. In it the author illustrates how a number of lines of thought from cybernetics, linguistics, developmental psychology, cognitive science and philosophy became synthesised into radical constructivism. Given these diverse roots, this first full articulation of the theory is likely to have an influence that extends beyond mathematics education.