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Complexity as a Discourse on School Mathematics Reform

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Transdisciplinarity in Mathematics Education

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Abstract

This writing begins with a brief introduction of complexity thinking, coupled to a survey of some of the disparate ways that it has been taken up within mathematics education. That review is embedded in a report on a teaching experiment that was developed around the topic of exponentiation, and that report is in turn used to highlight three elements that may be critical to school mathematics reform. Firstly, complexity is viewed in curricular terms for how it might affect the content of school mathematics. Secondly, complexity is presented as a discourse on learning, which might influence how topics and experiences are formatted for students. Thirdly, complexity is interpreted as a source of pragmatic advice for those tasked with working in the complex space of teaching mathematics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Calgary, Werklund School of Education, 2500 University Drive NW, Calgary, AB, Canada, T2N 1N4

    Brent Davis

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  1. Brent Davis
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Correspondence to Brent Davis .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrated Studies in Education, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Limin Jao

  2. Department of Teacher Education, College of Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, USA

    Nenad Radakovic

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Davis, B. (2018). Complexity as a Discourse on School Mathematics Reform. In: Jao, L., Radakovic, N. (eds) Transdisciplinarity in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63624-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-63624-5_4

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-63623-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-63624-5

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