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Mathematization as Social Process

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Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education

Definition

Mathematization refers to the formatting of production, decision-making, economic management, means of communication, schemes for surveilling and control, war power, medical techniques, etc., by means of mathematical insight and techniques.

Mathematization provides a particular challenge for mathematics education as it becomes important to develop a critical position to mathematical rationality as well as new approaches to the construction of meaning.

Characteristics

The notions of mathematization and demathematization, the claim that there is mathematics everywhere, and mathematics in action are addressed, before we get to the challenges that mathematics education is going to face.

Mathematization and Demathematization

It is easy to do shopping in a supermarket. One puts a lot of things into the trolley and pushes it to the checkout desk. Here an electronic device used by the cashier makes a pling-pling-pling melody, and the total to be paid is shown. One gets out the...

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References

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Correspondence to Ole Skovsmose .

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Skovsmose, O. (2020). Mathematization as Social Process. In: Lerman, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15789-0_112

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