Problem-posing research in mathematics education: new questions and directions

As an introduction to the special issue on problem posing, the paper presents a brief overview of the research done on this topic in mathematics education. Starting from this overview, the authors acknowledge important issues that need to be taken into account in the developing field of problem posing and identify new directions of research, some of which are addressed by the collection of the papers included in this volume.     

The accountability era in US teacher education: looking back,looking forward

Abstract

In keeping with the theme of the 40th anniversary issue of EJTE, this article looks back and forward at US teacher education accountability. It argues that “holding teacher education accountable” has been the major approach to reforming teacher education in the US for the last two decades, assuming that enhanced teacher education quality depends on vigilant public evaluation and monitoring of outcomes related to teacher education institutions, programs, and teacher candidates. This article looks back at the “era of accountability” by examining five policy, political, and professional developments that contributed to its emergence and strong hold on US teacher education. Looking forward to the future of teacher education accountability in the US, the article argues that we need a new approach – democratic accountability in teacher education – which is based on intelligent professional responsibility for students’ learning including democratic knowledge and skills, strong equity, and genuine collaboration with multiple stakeholders.     

Researching research: mathematics education in the Political

We discuss contemporary theories in mathematics education in order to do research on research. Our strategy consists of analysing discursively and ideologically recent key publications addressing the role of theory in mathematics education research. We examine how the field fabricates its object of research by deploying Foucault’s notion of bio-politics—mainly to address the object “learning”—and ?i?ek’s ideology critique—to address the object “mathematics”. These theories, which have already been used in the field to research teaching and learning, have a great potential to contribute to a reflexivity of research on its discourses and effects. Furthermore, they enable us to present a clear distinction between what has been called the sociopolitical turn in mathematics education research and what we call a positioning of mathematics education (research) practices in the Political.     

Constructivism,mathematics and mathematics education

Learning theories such as behaviourism, Piagetian theories and cognitive psychology, have been dominant influences in education this century. This article discusses and supports the recent claim that Constructivism is an alternative paradigm, that has rich and significant consequences for mathematics education. In the United States there is a growing body of published research that claims to demonstrate the distinct nature of the implications of this view. There are, however, many critics who maintain that this is not the case, and that the research is within the current paradigm of cognitive psychology. The nature and tone of the dispute certainly at times appears to describe a paradigm shift in the Kuhnian model. In an attempt to analyse the meaning of Constructivism as a learning theory, and its implications for mathematics education, the use of the term by the intuitionist philosophers of mathematics is compared and contrasted. In particular, it is proposed that Constructivism in learning theory does not bring with it the same ontological commitment as the Intuitionists' use of the term, and that it is in fact a relativist thesis. Some of the potential consequences for the teaching of mathematics of a relativist view of mathematical knowledge are discussed here.     

Comparative research on shadow education: Achievements,challenges, and the agenda ahead

This paper reviews research on private supplementary tutoring, widely known as shadow education, during the initial decades of the present century. It takes as its starting point the first global study of the phenomenon, published in 1999, though notes some scattered national and subnational literature prior to that date. During the initial two decades, great expansion of the research on shadow education brought more depth and stronger awareness of commonalities and differences in different cultures. From initial mapping and identification of factors shaping demand came work on ecosystems with deeper sociological and economic analyses, together with greater attention to research methods. The agenda ahead will need to keep up with changing times, e.g., through the impact of technology, and develop stronger interdisciplinarity to explore additional domains. It will also need continued attention to definitions and methods.     

Lacan,subjectivity and the task of mathematics education research

This paper addresses the issue of subjectivity in the context of mathematics education research. It introduces the psychoanalyst and theorist Jacques Lacan whose work on subjectivity combined Freud’s psychoanalytic theory with processes of signification as developed in the work of de Saussure and Peirce. The paper positions Lacan’s subjectivity initially in relation to the work of Piaget and Vygotsky who have been widely cited within mathematics education research, but more extensively it is shown how Lacan’s conception of subjectivity provides a development of Peircian semiotics that has been influential for some recent work in the area. Through this route Lacan’s work enables a conception of subjectivity that combines yet transcends Piaget’s psychology and Peirce’s semiotics and in so doing provides a bridge from mathematics education research to contemporary theories of subjectivity more prevalent in the cultural sciences. It is argued that these broader conceptions of subjectivity enable mathematics education research to support more effective engagement by teachers, teacher educators, researchers and students in the wider social domain.

我国高等工程实践教育的历史回顾与展望

从我国高等工程实践教育的重要性出发,简单回顾了我国工程实践教育发展的历史,提出了工程实践教育的主要内涵和存在的主要问题,并对我国工程实践教育的未来发展进行了展望。     

Developing complex understandings: On the relation of mathematics education research to mathematics

This article explores some of the intellectual bases of the apparent cultural divide between the fields of mathematics and mathematics education research. The chasm is in part attributable to epistemologies or theoretical `paradigms', fashionable in education, that dismiss or deny the integrity of fundamental aspects of mathematical and scientific knowledge. The solution offered is for the next generation of mathematics education researchers to knowledgeably and thoughtfully abandon such `isms' in favor of a unifying scientific and eclectic approach to research.