Mathematics Education Reform and Mathematics Education Research: Opportunities, Obstacles, and Obligations

1990 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 287 ◽  
1994 ◽  
Vol 25 (6) ◽  
pp. 711-733 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leslie P. Steffe ◽  
Thomas Kieren

Our intention in this article is to provide an interpretation of the influence of constructivist thought on mathematics educators starting around 1960 and proceeding on up to the present time. First, we indicate how the initial influence of constructivist thought stemmed mainly from Piaget's cognitive-development psychology rather than from his epistemology. In this, we point to what in retrospect appears to be inevitable distortions in the interpretations of Piaget 's psychology due primarily to its interpretation in the framework of Cartesian epistemology. Second, we identify a preconstructivist revolution in research in mathematics education beginning in 1970 and proceeding on up to 1980. There were two subperiods in this decade separated by Ernst von Glasersfeld's presentation of radical constructivism to the Jean Piaget Society in Philadelphia in 1975. Third, we mark the beginning of the constructivist revolution in mathematics education research by the publication of two important papers in the JRME (Richards & von Glasersfeld, 1980; von Glasersfeld, 1981). Fourth, we indicate how the constructivist revolution in mathematics education research served as a period of preparation for the reform movement that is currently underway in school mathematics.


2018 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 122-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erika C. Bullock

In this chapter, I use figure hiding as a metaphor representing the processes of exclusion and suppression that critical mathematics education (CME) seeks to address. Figure hiding renders identities and modes of thought in mathematics education and mathematics education research invisible. CME has a commitment to addressing figure hiding by making visible what has been obscured and bringing to the center what has been marginalized. While the tentacles of CME research address different analytical domains, much of this work can be connected to the social isms that plague our world (e.g., sexism, racism, heterosexism, colonialism, capitalism, ableism, militarism, nationalism, religious sectarianism). However, the trend in CME research is to address these isms in silos, which does not reflect the compounded forms of oppression that many experience. I review CME studies that employ intersectionality as a way of analyzing the complexities of oppression. Intersectionality’s limited use in CME research has been for identity-based analyses. I offer intersectional analysis as a strategy to extend intersectionality’s power beyond identity toward more systemic analyses.


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