Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Working with Adults: A Commentary

  • Chapter
Educational Paths to Mathematics

Part of the book series: Advances in Mathematics Education ((AME))

  • 1136 Accesses

Abstract

The commentary on the chapters of FitzSimons and of Giusti de Souza et al. reconsiders the distinction between ‘horizontal discourse’ and ‘vertical discourse’ to reflect on possible relationships between mathematics and meaningful contexts. By drawing on various sociological traditions the importance of these relationships for the design of ‘democratic mathematical activities’ is emphasized.

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

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Bernstein (1999) defines ‘horizontal discourse’ as “everyday or ‘common-sense’ knowledge. Common because all, potentially or actually, have access to it, common because it applies to all, and common because it has a common history in the sense or arising out of common problems or living and dying” (p. 159). In contrast, “vertical discourse takes the form of a coherent, explicit, and systematically principled structure, hierarchically organised, as in the sciences, or it takes the form of a series of specialised languages with specialised modes of interrogation and specialised criteria for the production and circulation of texts, as in the social sciences and humanities” (p. 159).

References

  • Abbott, A. (2012). It’s your money they’re after! Using advertising flyers to teach percentages. In A. Hector-Mason & D. Coben (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th international conference on adults learning mathematics (pp. 175–179). Hamilton: The National Centre of Literacy & Numeracy for Adults, University of Waikato.

    Google Scholar 

  • Austin, J. L. (1971). Palabras y acciones: cómo hacer cosas con palabras. Barcelona: Paidós.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakker, A. (2014). Special issue: Characterising and developing vocational mathematical knowledge. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 86(2), 151–156.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barbosa, J. C. (2006). Mathematical modelling in classroom: A critical and discursive perspective. ZDM – The International Journal on Mathematics Education, 38(3), 293–301.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beeli-Zimmermann, S., & Hollenstein, A. (2011). Financial literacy of microcredit clients: Results of a qualitative exploratory study and its implications for educational schemes. In T. Maguire, J. J. Keogh, & J. O’Donoghue (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th international conference on adults learning mathematics (pp. 26–36). Adults Learning Mathematics – A Research Forum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, B. (1971). Class, codes and control. Volume 1: Theoretical studies towards a sociology of language. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, B. (1996). Pedagogy, symbolic control and identity: Theory, research, critique. London: Taylor & Francis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bernstein, B. (1999). Vertical and horizontal discourse: An essay. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 20(2), 157–173.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carraher, T. N., Carraher, D. W., & Schliemann, A. D. (1985). Mathematics in the streets and in schools. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 3(1), 21–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coben, D., & Weeks, K. (2012). Behind the headlines: Authentic teaching, learning and assessment of competence in medication dosage calculation problem solving in and for nursing. In A. Hector-Mason & D. Coben (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th international conference on adults learning mathematics (pp. 39–55). Hamilton: The National Centre of Literacy & Numeracy for Adults, University of Waikato.

    Google Scholar 

  • Coben, D., O’Donoghue, J., & FitzSimons, G. E. (Eds.). (2000). Perspectives on adults learning mathematics: Research and practice. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Damlamian, A., Rodrigues, J. F., & Sträßer, R. (2013). Educational interfaces between mathematics and industry: Report on an ICMI-ICIAM-study. Cham: Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Díez-Palomar, J. (2004). La enseñanza de las matemáticas en la educación de personas adultas: un modelo dialógico. Unpublished PhD thesis, Universitat de Barcelona.

    Google Scholar 

  • Díez-Palomar, J. (2011). Being competent in mathematics: Adult numeracy and common sense. In T. Maguire, J. J. Keogh, & J. O’Donoghue (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th international conference on adults learning mathematics (pp. 90–102). Adults Learning Mathematics – A Research Forum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans, J. (1999). Building bridges: Reflections on the problem of transfer of learning in mathematics. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 39(1–3), 23–44.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, J. (2011). Students’ response to images of mathematics in advertising. In T. Maguire, J. J. Keogh, & J. O’Donoghue (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th international conference on adults learning mathematics (pp. 118–128). Adults Learning Mathematics – A Research Forum.

    Google Scholar 

  • FitzSimons, G. E. (2000). Section III: Adults, mathematics and work. In D. Coben, J. O’Donoghue, & G. E. Fitzsimons (Eds.), Perspectives on adults learning mathematics: Research and practice (pp. 209–227). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • FitzSimons, G. E. (2004). An overview of adult and lifelong mathematics education. Keynote presentation at Topic Study Group 6, 10th International Congress on Mathematics Education. http://www.icme10.dk

  • FitzSimons, G. E. (2013). Doing mathematics in the workplace: A brief review of selected literature. Adults Learning Mathematics: An International Journal, 8(1), 7–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • FitzSimons, G. E., & Wedege, T. (2007). Developing numeracy in the workplace. Nordic Studies in Mathematics, 12(1), 49–66.

    Google Scholar 

  • Flecha, R. (2000). Sharing words: Theory and practice of dialogic learning. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freire, P. (1996). A la sombra de este árbol. Barcelona: El Roure.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of freedom: Ethics, democracy, and civic courage. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freudenthal, H. (1973). Mathematics as an educational task. Dordrecht: Reidel.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freudenthal, H. (1991). Revisiting mathematics education: China lectures. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Giddens, A. (1991). Modernity and self-identity: Self and society in the late modern age. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gómez, J. (2004). El amor en la sociedad del riesgo: una tentativa educativa. Barcelona: El Roure.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goold, E., & Devitt, F. (2011). The role of mathematics in engineering practice and in the formation of engineers. In T. Maguire, J. J. Keogh, & J. O’Donoghue (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th international conference on adults learning mathematics (pp. 134–154). Adults Learning Mathematics – A Research Forum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greeno, J. G. (1997). On claims that answer the wrong questions. Educational Researcher, 26(1), 5–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1984). The theory of communicative action, vol. 1: Reason and the rationalization of society. Boston: Beacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Habermas, J. (1987). The theory of communicative action, vol. 2: Lifeworld and system: A critique of functionalist reason. Boston: Beacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, M. (1994). Mathematics in Denman textile courses. Three reports for D College. National Federation of Women’s Institutes. Unpublished manuscript.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jablonka, E. (2010). Contextualised mathematics. In H. Christensen, J. Díez-Palomar, J. Kantner, & C. M. Kinger (Eds.), Proceedings of the 17th international conference on adults learning mathematics (p. 3). Adults Learning Mathematics – A Research Forum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jablonka, E., & Gellert, U. (2007). Mathematisation – Demathematisation. In U. Gellert & E. Jablonka (Eds.), Mathematisation and demathematisation: Social, philosophical and educational ramifications (pp. 1–18). Rotterdam: Sense.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kane, P. (2012). Spatial awareness and estimation in recycling and refuse collection. In A. Hector-Mason & D. Coben (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th international conference on adults learning mathematics (pp. 56–68). Hamilton: The National Centre of Literacy & Numeracy for Adults, University of Waikato.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kelly, B. (2011). Learning in the workplace, functional mathematics and issues of transferability. In T. Maguire, J. J. Keogh, & J. O’Donoghue (Eds.), Proceedings of the 18th international conference on adults learning mathematics (pp. 37–46). Adults Learning Mathematics – A Research Forum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Keogh, J. J., Maguire, T., & O’Donoghue, J. (2012). A workplace contextualization of mathematics: Visible, distinguishable and meaningful mathematics in complex contexts. In A. Hector-Mason & D. Coben (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th international conference on adults learning mathematics (pp. 32–38). Hamilton: The National Centre of Literacy & Numeracy for Adults, University of Waikato.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J. (1988). Cognition in practice: Mind, mathematics and culture in everyday life. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lave, J., & Wenger, E. (1991). Situated learning: Legitimate peripheral participation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Mills, K. R. (2012). Some correspondences and disjunctions between school mathematics and the mathematical needs of apprentice toolmakers: A New Zealand perspective. In A. Hector-Mason & D. Coben (Eds.), Proceedings of the 19th international conference on adults learning mathematics (pp. 69–83). Hamilton: The National Centre of Literacy & Numeracy for Adults, University of Waikato.

    Google Scholar 

  • Moscovici, S. (1988). Notes towards a description of social representations. Journal of European Social Psychology, 18(3), 211–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Niss, M. (1994). Mathematics in society. In R. W. Scholz, R. Sträßer, & B. Winkelmann (Eds.), Didactics of mathematics as a scientific discipline (pp. 367–378). Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Niss, M. (1995). Las matemáticas en la sociedad. UNO: Revista de Didáctica de las Matemáticas, 2(6), 45–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • Noss, R., & Hoyles, C. (1996). The visibility of meanings: Modelling the mathematics of banking. International Journal of Computers for Mathematical Learning, 1(1), 3–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sierpinska, A., & Kilpatrick, J. (Eds.). (1998). Mathematics education as a research domain: A search for identity. Dordrecht: Kluwer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treffers, A. (1978). Wiskobas Doelgericht. Utrecht: IOWO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Treffers, A. (1987). Three dimensions: A model of goal and theory description in mathematics instruction – The Wiskobas project. Dordrecht: Reidel.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Vithal, R. (2003). Teachers and street children: On becoming a teacher of mathematics. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 6(2), 165–183.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wedege, T. (2010). People’s mathematics in working life: Why is it invisible? Adults Learning Mathematics – An International Journal, 5(1), 89–97.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Science Education, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Javier Díez-Palomar

Authors
  1. Javier Díez-Palomar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Javier Díez-Palomar .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Erziehungswissenschaft und Psychologie, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Uwe Gellert

  2. Facultat de Formació del Professorat Departament de Didàctica de les Ciències Experimentals i la Matemàtica, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

    Joaquim Giménez Rodríguez

  3. Management de l’Information et des Opérations, ESCP Europe, Paris, France

    Corinne Hahn

  4. Department of Sciences of Pre-School Education and of Educational Design, University of the Aegean, Rhodes, Greece

    Sonia Kafoussi

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Díez-Palomar, J. (2015). Working with Adults: A Commentary. In: Gellert, U., Giménez Rodríguez, J., Hahn, C., Kafoussi, S. (eds) Educational Paths to Mathematics. Advances in Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15410-7_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation