The Culture of the Mathematics Classroom

An examination of the mathematics classroom as a social process.

Presents research trends in mathematics education and illustrates theoretical discussion with classroom episodes. Viewing teaching and learning as social processes, the volume encourages change in mathematics education through recognition of the social character of school mathematics.The Culture of the Mathematics Classroom is becoming an increasingly salient topic of discussion in mathematics education. Studying and changing what happens in the classroom allows researchers and educators to recognize the social character of mathematical pedagogy and the relationship between the classroom and culture at large. The volume is divided into three sections, reporting findings gained both in research and in practice. The first presents several attempts to change classroom culture by focusing on the education of mathematics teachers and on teacher-researcher collaboration. The second section shifts to the interactive processes of the mathematics classroom and to the communal nature of learning. The third section discusses the means of constructing, filtering, and establishing mathematical knowledge that are characteristic of the classroom culture. As an examination of the social nature of mathematical teaching and learning, the volume should appeal both to educational psychologists and to cultural and social anthropologists and sociologists. The editors have compiled a volume that explores not only the acquisition of mathematical knowledge but the communal character of such knowledge as well.