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ERIC Number: EJ1460594
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Feb
Pages: 20
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0013-1954
EISSN: EISSN-1573-0816
Available Date: 2024-10-22
Decentralising Mathematics: Mutual Development of Spontaneous and Mathematical Concepts via Informal Reasoning
Yusuke Uegatani1; Hiroki Otani2; Taro Fujita3
Educational Studies in Mathematics, v118 n2 p229-248 2025
This paper aims to shed light on an overlooked but essential aspect of informal reasoning and its radical implication to mathematics education research: Decentralising mathematics. We start to problematise that previous studies on informal reasoning implicitly overfocus on what students infer. Based on Walton's distinction between reasoning and argument, and Ernest's concept of intrapersonal dialogue, we propose two theoretical perspectives for understanding the roles of informal reasoning in argumentation: the semi-formal, and the negotiation perspectives. From the latter perspective, we can say that informal reasoning involves creating alternatives, eschewing the relatively unpromising ones, and choosing the most promising one. To illustrate the advantage of the negotiation perspective over the semi-formal perspective, we present two examples of students' statistical written reports from a previous study. These examples illustrate that spontaneous concepts influenced the students' creation of multiple alternatives, and choice of the most promising one, in informal reasoning. Therefore, to better understand the development of mathematical concepts, we need to recognise the role of spontaneous concepts through decentralising mathematics. Finally, we introduce inferentialism as an additional theoretical perspective for investigating both the mathematical development of spontaneous concepts, and the spontaneous development of mathematical concepts. The inferentialist idea of the game of giving and asking for reasons indicates how to empirically investigate the mutual development of spontaneous and mathematical concepts.
Springer. Available from: Springer Nature. One New York Plaza, Suite 4600, New York, NY 10004. Tel: 800-777-4643; Tel: 212-460-1500; Fax: 212-460-1700; e-mail: customerservice@springernature.com; Web site: https://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2123/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: 1Hiroshima University High School, Fukuyama, Hiroshima, Japan; 2Otsuma Women’s University, Tokyo, Japan; 3University of Exeter, England, UK