Skip to main content
Log in

An experience of cultural transposition of the El’konin-Davydov curriculum

  • Published:
Educational Studies in Mathematics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

We will present cultural transposition as a particular perspective to frame the use of foreign mathematics education practices as an opportunity for questioning the didactic practices of one’s own cultural context. This requires a process activated by researchers, who deconstruct the cultural layers underpinning the foreign education practice before proposing it to teachers. We discuss the theoretical premises of this approach and, in accordance with them, we propose a transposition process of the El’konin-Davydov curriculum. In particular, we will show how our deconstruction process has affected the design and implementations of particular Professional Development courses (PDs) in Italy. Finally, we will present a case study of a teacher involved in one of these PDs to observe her new educational awareness.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. In I Ching divinatory arts, the divination could be obtained through the launch of a group of sticks, whose final arrangement was matched to one of the hexagrams contained in the I Ching book, in which there were also divination texts for each hexagram.

References

  • Arievitch, I. M., & Stetsenko, A. (2014). The magic of signs: Developmental trajectory of cultural mediation. In A. Yasnitsky, R. van der Veer & M. Ferrari (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of cultural-historical psychology (pp. 217–244). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

  • Bartolini Bussi, M. G., Baccaglini-Frank, A., & Ramploud, A. (2014). Intercultural dialogue and the geography and history of thought. For the Learning of Mathematics, 34(1), 31–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartolini Bussi, M. G., Bertolini, C., Ramploud, A., & Sun, X. (2017). Cultural transposition of Chinese lesson study to Italy: An exploratory study on fractions in a 4th grade classroom. The International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, 6(4), 380–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bartolini Bussi, M. G., & Funghi, S. (2019). Lesson study in primary pre-service teachers’ education: Influences on beliefs about lesson planning and conduction. In M. Graven, H. Venkat, A. Essien, & P. Vale (Eds.), Proceedings of the 43rd Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (vol. 2, pp. 81–88). Pretoria, South Africa: PME.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartolini Bussi, M. G., & Sun, X. H. (Eds.). (2018). Building the foundation: Whole numbers in the primary grades. The 23rd ICMI study. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG.

  • Barton, B. (2007). The language of mathematics: Telling mathematical tales (Vol. 44). Springer Science & Business Media.

  • Barton, B., & Frank, R. (2001). Mathematical ideas and indigenous languages. In B. Atweh, H. Forgasz, & B. Nebres (Eds.), Sociocultural research on mathematics education: An international perspective (pp. 135–150). London, UK: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

  • Bishop, A. J. (1988). Mathematical enculturation. A cultural perspective on mathematics education. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.

  • Cai, J., & Knuth, E. (Eds.). (2011). Early algebraization: A global dialogue from multiple perspectives. Springer Science & Business Media.

  • D’Ambrosio, U. (2001). Ethnomathematics: Link between tradition and modernity. Rotterdam/Taipei: Sense Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davydov, V. V. (1975). Logical and psychological problems of elementary mathematics as an academic subject. In L. P. Steffe (Ed.), Soviet studies in the psychology of learning and teaching mathematics (vol. VII, pp. 55–107). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.

  • Davydov, V. V. (1982). The psychological characteristics of the formation of elementary mathematical operations in children. In T. P. Carpenter et al. (Eds.), Addition and subtraction: A cognitive perspective (pp. 224–238). Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davydov, V. V. (1990). Types of generalization in instruction: Logical and psychological problems in the structuring of school curricula, Soviet studies in mathematics education. Volume 2. Reston: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics. (Originally published in 1972.).

  • Derrida, J. (1982). Margins of philosophy (A. Bass, Trans.). New York/London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

  • Derrida, J. (1996). Specters of Marx. The state of the debt, the work of mourning and the new international. (P. Kamuf, trans.). New York, NY: Routledge.

  • Derrida, J. (1997). Of grammatology. (G. C. Spivak, Trans.). Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

  • Jullien, F. (1993). Figure de l’immanence, Pour une lecture philosophique du Yi king. In Le Classique du changment. Paris, France: Editions Grasset & Fasquelle.

  • Jullien, F. (2005). La decostruzione da fuori. Dalla Grecia alla Cina e ritorno. Aut Aut, 328, 71–87.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jullien, F. (2006). Si parler va sans dire. Du logos et d’autres ressources. Paris, France: Le Seuil.

  • Jullien, F. (2009). L’Invention de l'idéal et le Destin de l’Europe. Ou “Platon” lu de Chine. Paris: Le Seuil.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karp, A., & Vogeli, B. (Eds.). (2011). Russian mathematics education. Programs and practices. London-New Jersey-Singapore: World Scientific.

    Google Scholar 

  • Li, Y., & Huang, R. (Eds.). (2013). How Chinese teach mathematics and improve teaching. New York, NY: Routledge.

  • Ma, L., & Kessel, C. (2018). The theory of school arithmetic: Whole numbers. In M. G. Bartolini Bussi & X. Sun (Eds.), Building the foundation: Whole numbers in the primary grades. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG.

  • Mellone, M., Carotenuto, G., Di Bernardo, R., & Punzo, C. (2018). Algebraic thinking among graphical representation and algebraic symbols. In E. Bergqvist, M. Österholm, C. Granberg, & L. Sumpter (Eds.), Proceedings of the 42nd Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (vol. 1, pp. 247–254). Umeå, Sweden: PME.

  • Mellone, M., Ramploud, A., Di Paola, B., & Martignone, F. (2019). Cultural transposition: Italian didactic experiences inspired by Chinese and Russian perspectives on whole number arithmetic. ZDM, Mathematics Education, 51(1), 199–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Monticelli, D. (2012). Challenging identity: Lotman’s “translation of the untranslatable” and Derrida's différance. Σημειωτκή-Sign Systems Studies, 40(3–4), 319–339.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polotskaia, E. (2018). Foreground Davydov’s curriculum: Relational approach and algebraic thinking in early grades. In E. Bergqvist, M. Österholm, C. Granberg, & L. Sumpter (Eds.), Proceedings of the 42nd Conference of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (vol. 1, p. 245). Umeå, Sweden: PME.

    Google Scholar 

  • Radford, L. (1997). On psychology, historical epistemology, and the teaching of mathematics: Towards a socio-cultural history of mathematics. For the Learning of Mathematics, 17(1), 26–33.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schmittau, J. (2011). The relevance of Russian elementary mathematics education. In B. R. Vogeli & A. Karp (Eds.), Russian mathematics education: History and world significance (pp. 253–279). Singapore: World Scientific.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shao, G., Fan, Y., Huang, R., Ding, E., & Li, Y. (2013). Mathematics classroom instruction in China viewed from a historical perspective. In Y. Li & R. Huang (Eds.), How Chinese teach mathematics and improve teaching (pp. 11–28). New York, NY: Routledge.

  • Skovsmose, O. (1994). Towards a critical mathematics education. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 27(1), 35–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sophian, C. (2007). The origins of mathematical knowledge in childhood. New York, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

  • Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

  • Whitehead, A. N. (1978). Process and reality. New York, NY: The Free Press.

  • Xu, B. (2013). The development of school mathematics textbooks in China since 1950. ZDM Mathematics Education, 45(5), 725–736.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria Mellone.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mellone, M., Ramploud, A. & Carotenuto, G. An experience of cultural transposition of the El’konin-Davydov curriculum. Educ Stud Math 106, 379–396 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-020-09942-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-020-09942-7

Keywords

Navigation