[Xmca-l] Re: units of mathematics education

[Ed Wall]

Andy

     Nice and important points. Thanks!

Ed

      
On Oct 26, 2014, at  11:31 PM, Andy Blunden wrote:

> Well, I think that if you make a decision that mathematics is *not* essentially a social convention, but something which is essentially grasping something objective, then that affects what you choose as your unit of analysis. Student-text-teacher is all about acquiring a social convention.
> 
> Remember that when Marx chose an exchange of commodities as a unit of analysis of bourgeois society, he knew full-well that commodities are rarely exchanged - they are bought and sold. But Marx did not "include" money in the unit of analysis.
> 
> Andy
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *Andy Blunden*
> http://home.pacific.net.au/~andy/
> 
> 
> Ed Wall wrote:
>> Andy
>> 
>>     Asking that question was one of the dumber things I've done on this list. Apologies to all
>> 
>>      Thanks for reminding me about pre-concepts. I've been thinking about something similar and wondering if this is part of what makes doing mathematics 'mathematical.' Historically, by the way, mathematics grew out of manipulating such material objects; however, there are indications that, at some point (and it may have happened more than once), there was sort of a leap. 
>>      Mathematics is considered a science; for instance, of patterns or, as Hegel puts it, quantity. I agree for a mathematician symbols of various sorts are effectively 'things'.
>> 
>>       In the 80s some mathematicians (School Mathematics Study Group) in the US put together a formal curriculum - my aunt used it - which was a disaster (and a real pain for the kids involved). Indications are children learned little. 
>> 
>>       So to add a little to a discussion that possibly has continued far longer than it should. Mathematics may have a few characteristics that may distinguish it from other disciplines such as
>> 
>>        1. A student has the ability, in principle, to be able to independently of teachers or peers verify a grade appropriate mathematics statement (not a definition although definitions admit, in a sense,  a sort of empirical verification).
>> 
>>        2. Solutions to problems are, in general, not subject to social conventions (which probably is included in the above). Amusingly, I believe in the US a state legislature once tried to set the value of pi to 3.1417
>> 
>> However, I'm not sure how such would fit together into a useful unit of analysis.
>> 
>> Ed
>> 
>>  
>