University of Haifa, Israel (Professor Emerita)
Discursive gaps in mathematics classroom:
The invisible pitfalls of routines
Communication in mathematics classroom is challenged by numerous discursive gaps, most of them invisible, some of them necessary, and some potentially harmful. The talk will open with the introduction of the notion of routine and with the claim that learning at large, and learning mathematics in particular, may be seen as the process of routinization. A number of empirical examples and theoretical arguments will then be brought to show that in many cases, students "incorrect" mathematical performances, rather than being due to the insufficient technical proficiency or to the lack of mastery in matching procedures to situations, may result from the learners' idiosyncratic interpretations of those situations. If so, learning may be seen as the process of overcoming discursive gaps between the student and the teacher. This claim, if taken seriously, must change the way in which we study the development of mathematical thinking. The talk will conclude with a reflection on how to sensitize ourselves to discursive gaps in mathematics classroom, how to benefit from those that that are an inevitable part of learning, and how to cope with those that may hinder the process.
Anna Sfard is a Professor Emerita at the University of Haifa, Israel. She conducts research and teaches in the domain of learning sciences, with particular focus on the relation between thinking and communication and the development of mathematical thinking. She served as the first Lappan-Philips-Fitzgerald Professor at Michigan State University and is the Visiting Professor in the Institute of Education, University College of London. She is the recipient of 2007 Freudenthal Award, the Fellow of American Educational Research Association (AERA) and the member of the American National Academy of Education (NAEd).