Abstract
This chapter firstly describes Foucault’s research tools he termed/called archaeology – the systematic examination of the archive for evidence of the rules of discourse – and genealogy – the meticulous examination of these rules in practice. The chapter goes on to describe how the research for this book was conceived and executed as an archaeological/genealogical approach to the examination of how children are made as mathematical subjects in the discourses of mathematics, home, schooling and education. It describes ethnographical biography as the method adopted for the research, the means of selection of children as research subjects and the collection and processing of data.
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- 1.
Third International Mathematics and Science Study.
- 2.
Trends in Mathematics and Science Study.
- 3.
OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment.
- 4.
From Beesey and Davie (1991). Level 2b, Children’s Recording Book, p. 3.
- 5.
NCEA – National Certificate of Educational Achievement. Children are able to accumulate points towards their certificate in a range of subjects. Some points are gained through internal school-based assessment and others through external examinations.
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Walls, F. (2009). Of Archaeology, and Genealogy: Choosing Sites and Tools. In: Mathematical Subjects. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-0597-0_2
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