Abstract
University mathematics education (UME) is considered, in this paper, as a kind of didactic practice - characterised by institutional settings and by the purpose of inducting students into mathematical practices. We present a research programme - the anthropological theory of the didactic (ATD) - in which this rough definition can be made much more precise; we also outline some cases of ATD-based research on UME. Three cases are presented in more detail. The first is a theoretical and empirical study of the topic of dual vector spaces, as it appears in undergraduate courses on linear algebra. The second case concerns a similar study of the practices and theories on limits of functions which students may develop in calculus courses. Finally, a third study illustrates the use of ATD to design and experiment innovative approaches to mathematical modelling in the setting of a first mathematics course for engineering students.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 95-111 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| Journal | Research in Mathematics Education |
| Volume | 16 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| Early online date | 30 Jun 2014 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2014 |
Keywords
- anthropological theory of the didactic
- duality in linear algebra
- limits and calculus
- mathematical modelling
- university mathematics education