| Abstract: | Epistemological knowledge of mathematics in social learning settings is an important type of professional knowledge for mathematics
teachers because it refers to social and interactive processes of communication. This article focuses on one central aspect
of epistemological mathematical knowledge, namely on the problematique of how mathematical signs and symbols gain meaning
in the interactive social processes of teaching and learning. A teaching episode is presented and analyzed from an epistemological
perspective. This analysis leads to the identification of three important components of epistemological knowledge that could
be introduced into the education of mathematics teachers: the developmental nature of mathematical knowledge; interactive
social processes of mathematical communication as autonomous systems; and the interdependence of social and epistemological
constraints in mathematical communication.
This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date. |
