Characteristics
Recontextualization refers to the contention that texts and practices are transformed as they are moved between contexts of their reading or enactment. This simple claim has profound implications for mathematics education and for education generally. There are three major theories in the general field of educational studies that directly and explicitly concern recontextualization: the Theory of Didactic Transposition (later the Anthropological Theory of Didactics) of Yves Chevallard, Basil Bernstein’s pedagogic device, and Paul Dowling’s Social Activity Method. These are all complex theories, so their presentation here of necessity entails substantial simplification.
The Theory of Didactic Transposition (TDT) proposes, essentially, that constituting a practice as something to be taught will always involve a transformation of the practice. This is a general claim that can be applied to any practice and any form of teaching, but Chevallard’s (1985, 1989) work and that of...
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Dowling, P. (2020). Recontextualization in Mathematics Education. In: Lerman, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15789-0_133
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