Scanning and Scoping of Values and Valuing in Mathematics Education

Abstract

Although the ideas of values and valuing have been totemic notions in education for forever, when applied to mathematics they become quite problematic. Even today for many mathematic teachers and learners, mathematics is a value-free space. For them, school mathematics is learning the skills of manipulating num- bers before moving to the more abstract ideas of algebra, and occasionally delving into geometry and measurement ideas. Likewise teaching mathematics in schools is ensuring students get good marks on the tests and examinations using whatever peda- gogical techniques ensure this. Although in schools this is still the prevailing attitude to mathematics, nevertheless for some decades there has been a growing counter position in mathematics education research that problematizes and challenges this orthodoxy. It has argued that at a fundamental level there are mathematical values that underpin the doing of mathematics, and indeed the same is true for mathematics pedagogy. This chapter briefly explores a number of these notions as it introduces the various chapters in this volume. Keywords