Play power

These games are excerpted from Play Poweravailable from Play Power Publishing, P.O. Box 2186, Orinda, CA 94563.     

On semiotics and subjectivity: a response to Tony Brown’s “signifying ‘students’, ‘teachers’, and ‘mathematics’: a reading of a special issue”

In this response we address some of the significant issues that Tony Brown raised in his analysis and critique of the Special Issue of Educational Studies in Mathematics on “Semiotic perspectives in mathematics education” (Sáenz-Ludlow & Presmeg, Educational Studies in Mathematics 61(1–2), 2006). Among these issues are conceptualizations of subjectivity and the notion that particular readings of Peircean and Vygotskian semiotics may limit the ways that authors define key actors or elements in mathematics education, namely students, teachers and the nature of mathematics. To deepen the conversation, we comment on Brown’s approach and explore the theoretical apparatus of Jacques Lacan that informs Brown’s discourse. We show some of the intrinsic limitations of the Lacanian idea of subjectivity that permeates Brown’s insightful analysis and conclude with a suggestion about some possible lines of research in mathematics education.

A community of practice as an inclusive model to support children with social,emotional and behavioural difficulties in school contexts

Many school children throughout the world who exhibit antisocial or destructive behaviour or have social, emotional and behavioural difficulties (SEBD) do not receive the support they need. As a result, they are caught up in a cycle of vulnerability. Systemic collaborative support is needed to counter this. Although in some cases teachers and other professionals join forces, interventions are usually affected by individual professionals outside the framework of inclusive education. This literature review paper explores the support children with SEBD in school contexts receive. The findings of the thematic document analysis highlight the vulnerability of children with SEBD, the success or otherwise of attempts made by various approaches and intervention programmes to provide support to these children, and the barriers to inclusive support. We argue the merits of adopting a Community of Practice as an inclusive model to support school children with SEBD. This kind of inclusive model strengthens constructive partnerships that provide these children with opportunities to acquire the social capital they need to engage meaningfully at schools and in their future life.     

A transcultural study of dyslexia: Analysis of reading disabilities in 425 Chinese children simultaneously learning to read and write in English and in Chinese

Annals of Dyslexia -     

Uncontrollable Mental Imagery: Graphical Connections Between A Function And Its Derivative

The view that imagery might be a disadvantage on certain tasks might surprise some mathematics educators who contend that a learner's conceptual understanding is increased whenever visual imagery is used. One of the limitations of imagery found in the literature comes to bear on a unique aspect of mathematics teaching and learning. This is the notion of an uncontrollable image, which may persist, thereby preventing the opening up of more fruitful avenues of thought, a difficulty which is particularly acute if the image is vivid. Although one calculus student's images supported high levels of mathematical functioning, occasionally his vivid images became uncontrollable, and the power of these images did more to obscure than to explain. This type of imagery can be a major hindrance in constructing meaning for mathematical concepts — contrary to the panacea view of imagery which is sometimes expressed.This revised version was published online in September 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.