Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-m42fx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-22T12:28:46.697Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

12 - Representations in the mathematics classroom: Reflections and constructions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 May 2010

Falk Seeger
Affiliation:
Universität Bielefeld, Germany
Jörg Voigt
Affiliation:
Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany
Ute Waschescio
Affiliation:
Universität Bielefeld, Germany
Get access

Summary

The present chapter uses the concept of representation in a twofold sense: As an external, primarily pictorial, graphic, diagrammatic, or notational form; and as an internal representation, as cognition. In brief, I am discussing the (external) representation of (internal) representation, and vice versa. To indicate what kind of representations I am talking about, I shall use “representations” when I am addressing the external, notational form of representation and “representation” when talking about the internal, cognitive one. Since the advent of cognitive science, the discussion on the nature of internal representation has attracted broad attention from philosophers and psychologists (see, e.g., Dennett 1978; Fodor 1975, 1981; Millikan 1993; Putnam 1988). In this chapter I shall not try to contribute to that discussion; my analysis of representations is, however, indirectly related to one of the main points of this discussion, which has been the critique of a “picture” theory of mental representation. This theory typically assumes that a representation is like what it represents. The critique of this assumption has been picked up by constructivists in the field of mathematics education and turned into a general argument against the “representational view of mind,” saying that we cannot know whether there exists something to be represented, and that representation is only construction. Now, this perspective seems only to apply as long as one sees “representation” as some basically passive reflection of the outside world. In this chapter, the line of argument will be that representation is active construction and that construction without representation is empty.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×