Book review: Pausing to relate and participate Mathematical relationships in education: identities and participation. Edited by Laura Black, Heather Mendick, & Yvette Solomon (2009). New York, NY: Routledge. Hardback: ISBN: 978-0-415-99684-6. List Price:

摘要

There was a time, not so long ago, when the selection of a textbook for use in graduate level courses in mathematics curriculum presented me with many challenges indeed. I value research-based texts comprised of multiple authors, each embracing different methodological and/or theoretical lenses through which to view mathematics education and research in/on mathematics education. What I found more often in my searches, however, were books that focused narrowly on (mostly) cognitive and/or psychological perspectives on learning, while working hard to de-emphasize theory and associated academic language. The significant impact of such books on the field of mathematics education is not in question; their narrowness of focus, however, tends to limit opportunities for resonance and relationship on the part of the students in my courses (who are generally full-time school teachers from diverse backgrounds and interests, studying part-time in graduate school). Thankfully, those days of limited choice have passed. In recent years, books that challenge monolithic, atheoretical, and empiricist views of mathematics teaching, learning, and research have been published in notable numbers (see, for example, Allen & Johnston-Wilder, 2004; Brown, 2008; de Freitas & Nolan, 2008; Valero & Zevenbergen, 2004; Walshaw, 2004, 2010). This book edited by Black, Mendick, and Solomon is another such choice; it is, in fact, a treasure in how its chapters engage the reader in multiple methodological and theoretical conversations in/ on mathematical relationships, identities, and participations by key researchers in the field.