[Xmca-l] Re: units of mathematics education

[Andy Blunden]

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
>
>   
>