This special issue in English of Recherches en Didactique des Mathématiques intends to address the international community of researchers in mathematics education, to go beyond the usual readership of the journal.
During the past 30 years, researchers in mathematics education from English-, French-, and Castilian-speaking regions have been giving increased attention to classroom instruction. Studies have focused on the learning activities in which students engage in classrooms, the way mathematics is represented for study in classrooms, and the work teachers do to facilitate the learning of mathematics by groups of students in schools. Communication among researchers across those language differences has however been scarce. Different theoretical traditions as well as cultural differences in how to write and edit scholarship have often contributed to exacerbate the obvious differences in language competence and thus discouraged mutual acknowledgment.
The present state of development of research in mathematics education requires more accurate and more demanding communication between researchers across national and linguistic boundaries. Some attempts to encourage communication between different theoretical approaches have been done during last ten years, particularly in Europe with the creation of a regular Conference of European Research in Mathematics Education (CERME). Since the 2003 CERME, one of its working groups has worked toward the goal to compare and connect different theoretical perspectives used in researches in mathematics education. As a consequence of those meetings, a special issue of « ZDM, The International Journal on Mathematics Education », the 40/2 issue (2007) has been published that provides an account of those different perspectives. Another attempt to deepen the communication of research across the language divide was made in a special issue of Educational Studies in Mathematics, volume 59 (2005), including nine articles written in English by researchers working within the paradigm of French didactique of mathematics in four different countries.
For this special issue, the journal Recherches en Didactique des Mathématiques has been interested in publishing a counterpart to volume 59 of Educational Studies in Mathematics, concentrated on methodological aspects for the study of mathematics classrooms. Patricio Herbst and Daniel Chazan, as guest editors, invited authors to address a part of the question, What methodologies are available to assist the study of what happens in mathematics classrooms as it concerns the mathematical content, students’ learning, and the work of the teacher ?
All the articles published in volume 59 of Educational Studies reported on empirical studies, yet they differed in the grain size of the analysis done and in other methodological aspects. It seems as though each of those articles coming from a common theoretical root in French didactique might find fellow travellers of methodological practices in other theoretical traditions that also inspect mathematics classrooms from the perspective of the knowledge at stake, students’ learning or the work of the teacher. This special issue of RDM thus intended to create a space for communication across research cultures around the methods that researchers have used to inspect classroom mathematical work with articles which could address portions of large set of questions that researchers on classroom instruction in all cultures need to contend with.
In their introductory paper, Patricio Herbst and Daniel Chazan discuss methodological considerations of classroom researchers, including how the definition of a unit of analysis varies depending on the purposes of the research. They include many reference pointers for readers to deepen their understanding of those methodological issues in the context of specific studies. They also address methodological problems concerning data collection instruments, particularly with video recording.
The article by Jill Adler outlines methodological aspects of a research program that seeks to outline the mathematical knowledge that teachers use in doing the work of teaching. Adler’s paper contributes a particular way of framing that problem utilizing Bernstein’s theory of pedagogical codes : Bernstein’s notion of evaluation is operationalized to segment instruction and within those segments to map the possible representations of mathematical knowledge.
The paper by Boero, Guala, Consogno and Gazzolo shows a very different way of conducting research in classrooms, not only in terms of the definition of units of analysis but also in terms of the goals of the research. In their contribution, Boero et al. describe how didactical innovation feeds from research in classrooms that targets at students’ development of specific competencies.
Overall the present issue contributes to a hopefully larger movement toward more collaboration, informed competition, and cross fertilization across research programs and paradigms. The issue represents an attempt by the journal to become a place of choice for researchers to publish their work. The issue also represents an attempt by the journal to contribute to a needed discussion of methodological approaches—a set of issues that concerns all researchers regardless of national origin or language.
This special issue is available online :
subscription for volume 29 (3 issues) : 69€
volume 29/1 only : 23€
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