Alternative Theoretical Frameworks for Mathematics Education Research

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-ix

   PDF

2. Introduction

   • Elizabeth de Freitas, Margaret Walshaw

   Pages 1-10

3. Lev Vygotsky

   • Margaret Walshaw

   Pages 11-37

4. Michel Foucault

   • Margaret Walshaw

   Pages 39-64

5. Jacques Lacan

   • Margaret Walshaw

   Pages 65-91

6. Gilles Deleuze

   • Elizabeth de Freitas

   Pages 93-120

7. Bruno Latour

   • Elizabeth de Freitas

   Pages 121-148

8. Karen Barad

   • Elizabeth de Freitas

   Pages 149-173

9. Concluding Narratives

   • Margaret Walshaw, Elizabeth de Freitas

   Pages 175-190

10. Back Matter

    Pages 191-193

    PDF

This book explicates some of the fundamental philosophical tenets underpinning key theoretical frameworks, and demonstrates how these tenets inform particular kinds of research practice in mathematics education research. We believe that a deep understanding of significant theories from the humanities and social sciences is crucial for doing high-quality research in education. For that reason, this book focuses on six key theoretical sources, unpacking their relevance and application to specific research examples.   
We situate these key theorists within a larger framework pertaining to the history of thought more generally, and discuss how competing theories of teaching and learning differ in terms of their philosophical assumptions. In so doing, we offer context and motivation for particular research methods, with the agenda of helping researchers reflect on why particular approaches and not others might work for them.

• critical discourse analysis of mathematics
• mathematical education theory
• mathematics education
• social semiotics
• embodied cognition

• Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, United Kingdom

  Elizabeth de Freitas

• Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand

  Margaret Walshaw

Elizabeth de Freitas is an associate editor at the journal Educational Studies in Mathematics, and has published over 40 articles and chapters, both in mathematics education and education more generally, including articles in Qualitative Inquiry, Educational Theory and Philosophy, Studies in Philosophy of Education, and Teaching Education. Her research spans cultural studies, philosophy of education, research methods, and empirical studies in mathematics education. She is co-editor of the book: Opening the research text: Critical in(ter)ventions into mathematics education (2008, Springer), and co-author of the book Mathematics and the body: Material entanglements in the classroom (2014, Cambridge University Press). Margaret Walshaw is sole author of two books: Working with Foucault in Education, published by Sense Publishers in 2007, and Getting to Grips with Doctoral Research, published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2012. She is co-author of the book Are our Standards Slipping? Debates over Literacy and Numeracy Standards in New Zealand since 1945, published by NZCER in 2010, and co-author of Effective Pedagogy in Mathematics/Pāngarau: Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration [BES], published by Learning Media in 2007. In addition, she is sole editor of the book Mathematics Education Within the Postmodern, published by Information Age in 2004, and sole editor of the book Unpacking Pedagogy: New Perspectives for Mathematics Classrooms, published by Information Age in 2010. Margaret is currently associate editor of the Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education [JMTE]. She has published in the Review of Educational Research; Curriculum Inquiry; Pedagogies: An International Journal; the Journal for Research in Mathematics Education; Educational Studies in Mathematics; Cambridge Journal of Education; and in the British Journal of Sociology of Education.

Policies and ethics