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Activity Theoretic Approaches

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Tools and Mathematics

Part of the book series: Mathematics Education Library ((MELI,volume 110))

Abstract

Activity theory is an approach to the study of human practices—including mathematical and educational practices—in which mediation, including mediation by artefacts/tools, is a central construct. The chapter is of four sections. The first section provides an overview of AT. Section 9.2 traces early influences of AT in mathematics education research. Section 9.3 considers foci of a set of mathematics education papers recent at the time of writing. Section 9.4 explores emphases and tensions in papers considered in Sects. 9.2 and 9.3.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    As will soon become apparent, there are a number of schools of thought within what is called ‘activity theory’ and I use the term ‘activity theoretic approaches’ as a collective noun for these different approaches.

  2. 2.

    A note for readers who are reading this as a ‘stand alone chapter’. In Sect. 1.3.1 I stated my distinction between and artefact and a tool as, an artefact becomes a tool when it is used by an agent to do something. I use this distinction in this chapter. For example, a compass as a metal thing which holds a pencil and rests on a desk is an artefact but when it is picked up by someone to draw a circle it is a tool. When its status is ambiguous I use the term ‘artefact/tool’.

  3. 3.

    I will focus on English language texts due to (1) the dominance of the English language in Western academic writing, (2) English is my first language and (3) to keep this chapter to a reasonable length.

  4. 4.

    This caveat is important as the influence of AT in mathematics education research in (what was known as) ‘communist bloc’ countries was long standing at the time AT started to influence Western mathematics education research.

  5. 5.

    I focus on academic journals as I regard them as a dominant media through which ideas are circulated in academia.

  6. 6.

    Leont’evs actually, father and son.

  7. 7.

    Ladel and Kortenkamp (2013) consistently use the word ‘object’ to mean a ‘thing’. This occurs elsewhere in papers in this Special Issue. We consider this interpretation later in the chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematical Sciences, University of Agder, Kristiansand, Norway

    John Monaghan

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  1. John Monaghan
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Monaghan, J. (2016). Activity Theoretic Approaches. In: Tools and Mathematics. Mathematics Education Library, vol 110. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02396-0_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02396-0_9

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