Didactical Phenomenology (Freudenthal)

What Is Meant by Didactical Phenomenology?

The term didactical phenomenology was coined by Hans Freudenthal. Although his initial ideas for it date from the late 1940s, he likely first used the term in a German article in 1974. A few years later, the term appeared in English in his book Weeding and Sowing – Preface to a Science of Mathematical Education (Freudenthal 1978). Understanding the term requires comprehending Freudenthal’s notion of a phenomenology of mathematics, which refers to describing mathematical concepts, structures, or ideas, as thought objects (nooumena) in their relation to the phenomena (phainomena) of the physical, social, and mental world that can be organized by these thought objects.

The term didactical is used by Freudenthal in the European continental tradition referring to the way we teach students and the organization of teaching processes. This definition of didactics goes back to Comenius’ (1592–1670) Didactica Magna(Great Didactics) that contains a...