Towards a dialogical pedagogy: Some characteristics of a community of mathematical inquiry

Abstract

This paper discusses a teaching model called community of mathematical inquiry (CMI), characterized by dialogical and inquiry-driven communication and a dynamic structure of intertwined cognitive processes including distributed thinking, mathematical argumentation, integrated reasoning, conceptual transformation, internalization of critical thinking "moves,"and collectively constructed concepts. As a form of pedagogy, community of inquiry is non-hierarchical, democratic, pluralistic, ethically and culturally sensitive, and inherently egalitarian. In addition, the structure of the inquiry process in CMI is understood as one in which every individual has an effect on the system as a whole, which is therefore emergent, self-correcting, self-directed, and self-organizing. This paper draws some implications of this form of pedagogy for mathematics education. © 2009 by EURASIA.