Mathematics education research as a discipline is situated at the confluence of an array of diffuse‚ seemingly incommensurable‚ and radically divergent discourses. Research claims that have grown out of mathematics education are wide-ranging and antagonistic rather than circumscribed by hidebound disciplinary frames. While there has never been a unified‚ totalising discipline of knowledge labelled ‘mathematics education research’‚ and while it has always been a contested terrain‚ it is fair to say that the master paradigm out of which this field has been generated has been that of cognitive psychology. Mainstream mathematics education knowledges refracting the master discourse of psychology —whereby cognition serves as the central privileged and defining concept— clearly delimits its possibilities for serving as a social tool of democratic transformation. The central point of departure of this new collection is that mathematics education research is insufficiently univocal to support the type of uncompromising interpretation that cognitive psychologists would bring to it. The hallmark contribution of this pathbreaking volume edited by Paola Valero and Robyn Zevenbergen is the paradigmatic shift the authors have effected in the field of mathematics education research‚ taking up a position at the faultline of socio-cultural analysis and critical pedagogy.

This book documents and expands on the diverse social and political dimensions of mathematics education issues, concerns, perspectives, contexts, and approaches presented in Topic Study Group 34 of the 13th International Congress on Mathematical Education (ICME-13). The book also argues for and promotes the mainstreaming of the sociopolitical dimensions of mathematics education through an ongoing critique and inquiry into content, policies, practices and theories. Accordingly, the main theme throughout the book is captured and illuminated by bringing voices from the margin to the mainstream. In this respect it is both aspirational and a reality, as evidenced by the increasing references to the sociopolitical dimensions in other areas of mathematics education—for example, in several of the plenary presentations at the ICME-13. The authors have reflected on their ideas with a view to orienting and enhancing research in the sociopolitical dimensions of mathematics education that is grounded in current education systems within their specific sociocultural contexts.

This book examines the current thinking on five critical social and political areas in mathematics education. It focuses on material conditions in teaching and learning, and details features of social life and their influence on mathematics teaching, learning and achievement. Following an introduction, the first section addresses equitable access and participation in quality mathematics education. It explores this issue in different contexts and from different ideological perspectives. The second section traces the emergence and development of the notion of activism in mathematics education in theory, in the literature, in research and in practice. The third section then moves on to explore current research on the political forces at work in identity, subjectivity and (dis)ability within mathematics education, showing how emphasis on language and discourse provides information for this research, and how new directions are being pursued to address the diverse material conditions that shape learning experiences in mathematics education. Economic factors behind mathematics achievement form the topic of section four, which examines the political dimensions of mathematics education through the influence of national and global economic structures. The final section addresses distribution of power and cultural regimes of truth, based on the premise that although often deemed apolitical, mathematics and mathematics education are highly political institutions in our society. The book concludes with a summary and recommendations for the future.

This book brings together mathematics education research that makes a difference in both theory and practice - research that anticipates problems and needed knowledge before they become impediments to progress.

Research within a socio-political paradigm or “turn” has been gradually recognized and institutionalized as an important part of mathematics education. This book focuses on the neglected problems, tensions and contradictions evoked by this process. The authors do this by challenging current regimes of truth about mathematics education; by identifying how recent technological developments challenge or suspend contemporary conceptions of mathematics education; by critiquing the ideological entanglement of mathematics, its education and schooling with capitalism; by self-reflective analyses of researchers' impacts on shaping what is and can be perceived as the practice of mathematics education (research); and by confronting main-stream mathematics education with socio-political contexts that are usually neglected. In this way, "mathematical rationality" becomes contextualized within contemporary society, where it reproduces itself through technologies, social practices, media and other spheres of social life.

Since its establishment in 1976, PME (The International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education) is serving as a much sought after venue for scientific debate among those at the cutting edge of the field, as well as an engine for the development of research in mathematics education. A wide range of research activities conducted over the last ten years by PME members and their colleagues are documented and critically reviewed in this handbook, released to celebrate the Group’s 40 year anniversary milestone. The book is divided into four main sections: Cognitive aspects of learning and teaching content areas; Cognitive aspects of learning and teaching transverse areas; Social aspects of learning and teaching mathematics; and Professional aspects of teaching mathematics. The selection for each chapter of a team of at least two authors, mostly located in different parts of the world, ensured effective coverage of each field. High quality was further enhanced by the scrupulous review of early chapter drafts by two leaders in the relevant field. The resulting volume with its compilation of the most relevant aspects of research in the field, and its emphasis on trends and future developments, will be a rich and welcome resource for both mature and emerging researchers in mathematics education.

The word "critical" in the title of this collection has three meanings, all of which are relevant. One meaning, as applied to a situation or problem, is "at a point of crisis". A second meaning is "expressing adverse or disapproving comments or judgments". A third is related to the verb "to critique", meaning "to analyze the merits and faults of". The authors contributing to this book pose challenging questions, from multiple perspectives, about the roles of mathematics in society and the implications for education. Traditional reasons for teaching mathematics include: preparing a new generation of mathematics researchers and a cadre of technically competent users of mathematics; training students to think logically; and because mathematics is as much part of cultural heritage as literature or music. These reasons remain valid, though open to critique, but a deeper analysis is required that recognizes the roles of mathematics in framing many aspects of contemporary society, that will connect mathematics education to the lived experiences of students, their communities, and society in general, and that acknowledges the global ethical responsibilities of mathematicians and mathematics educators. The book is organized in four sections (1) Mathematics education: For what and why? (2) Globalization and cultural diversity, (3) Mathematics, education, and society and (4) Social justice in, and through, mathematics education The chapters address fundamental issues such as the relevance of school mathematics in people's lives; creating a sense of agency for the field of mathematics education, and redefining the relationship between mathematics as discipline, mathematics as school subject and mathematics as part of people's lives.

The First Sourcebook on Nordic Research in Mathematics Education: Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark and contributions from Finland provides the first comprehensive and unified treatment of historical and contemporary research trends in mathematics education in the Nordic world. The book is organized in sections co-ordinated by active researchers in mathematics education in Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Denmark, and Finland. The purpose of this sourcebook is to synthesize and survey the established body of research in these countries with findings that have influenced ongoing research agendas, informed practice, framed curricula and policy. The sections for each country also include historical articles in addition to exemplary examples of recently conducted research oriented towards the future. The book will serve as a standard reference for mathematics education researchers, policy makers, practitioners and students both in and outside the Nordic countries.

This book offers fresh insight and understanding of the many ways in which children, youth and adults may find their paths to mathematics. The chapters of the volume offer and analyse promising new ways into mathematics. The focus is on spaces and modalities of learning, dialogue and inquiry, embodiment and aesthetic experience, information and communication technology and on the use of mathematics in public communication. The chapters present new mathematical activities and conceptions enriching the repertoire of mathematics education practices. Critical commentaries discuss the innovative potential of the new approaches to the teaching and learning of mathematics. As a consequence, the commentaries point to requirements and open issues in the field of research in mathematics education. The volume is remarkably international. Teachers and researchers from 14 countries authored 21 chapters and 7 commentaries. The reader is invited to reflect on the particular effect of presenting avenues to mathematics contrived in diverse national settings in which the praxis of mathematics education might look different compared to what happens in the reader’s place. The book starts a series of sourcebooks edited by CIEAEM, the Commission Internationale pour l’Etude et l’Amélioration de l’Enseignement des Mathématiques / International Commission for the Study and Improvement of Mathematics Education.

Critical Literacy as Resistance is a collaborate effort among secondary and university educators from across the United States that addresses questions such as: What does a critical literacy classroom look like? What various texts are used? What strategies do teachers use to encourage students and teacher candidates to recognize how texts construct power and privilege? How do educators inspire activism in and out of the classroom? This book documents the experiences of scholars and teachers who have successfully bridged theory and practice by applying critical literacy into their respective content areas. The authors spell out the difference between critical thinking and critical literacy, then show how to write and implement curriculum that incorporates diverse texts and multiple literacies in all content areas (including world language), and includes the voices of students as they confront issues of race, class, gender, and power. The principles and practices laid out here will help teachers use literacy to liberate and empower students both in and outside the classroom by respecting and studying the literacies students bring to school, while simultaneously teaching (and challenging) the literacies of those in power. This is a book for pre- and in-service teachers in all content areas, staff developers, secondary literacy specialists, university professors, and anyone interested in social justice.