Abstract
A feature of the changing trends in research in mathematics education during recent years has been the growing interest in and focus on the social context of the mathematics classroom (Bishop 1988; Keitel 1989; Lerman 1994; Nickson 1992; Nickson & Lerman 1992). The role played by the social context in the development of the individual or of groups has been theorized, implicitly or explicitly, in many ways. What demarcates current interests is a move away from the identification of social factors as the realm of the affective to a concern with the part that the social and cultural environment plays as a whole in the development of the child. This chapter commences with a discussion of the models offered by different theoretical frameworks in their interpretations of the role of the social context, in order to identify and distinguish what are increasingly being called socio-cultural theories (Cobb 1994a) from more individualistic approaches.
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Lerman, S. (1998). Research on Socio-Cultural Perspectives of Mathematics Teaching and Learning. In: Sierpinska, A., Kilpatrick, J. (eds) Mathematics Education as a Research Domain: A Search for Identity. Glaukom, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-5196-2_6
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