Theoretical-methodological Approach of Research on the Production of New Mathematical Knowledge by Education Experts

Rosilda Dos Santos Morais

doi:10.29333/pr/8272

Abstract

This paper aims at making theoretical-methodological contributions to investigations that analyze the production and systematization of knowledge about teacher training and teaching by experts in education. To do so, we consider studies in the fields of History of Education and History of Mathematics Education. Our research work is justified, in the historiographical field, through the nature of the knowledge we intend to analyze, that is, the knowledge systematized by experts in regulations, decrees, teaching manuals, textbooks, school notebooks, etc. The study of such knowledge is interested in 1) enabling the understanding of the processes and dynamics of the constitution of knowledge in training and in teaching from a historical perspective; and in 2) highlight on the education expert`s role in the production process of such knowledge, which are considered here as “mathematics to teach” and “mathematics for teaching”, which are, respectively, a teacher’s object of work and working tools. Our investigation supports the hypothesis that “the different types of mathematics” change over time, and that education experts are the bringers of such change.

Highlights

There seems to be a consensus that the knowledge harnessed in training and in teaching changes over time1
A branch of historiographical research analyzes the processes and dynamics that involve such changes, considering the hypothesis that experts are production bringers of new knowledge. Because it is located in the field of education sciences, the reference – necessary given the polysemy of the concept “expert” – is the “expert in education”
Shanteau (1992), in the article “Competence in Experts: The Role of Task Characteristics”, pointed its uses already in the 19th century BC2, whereas its research “appears” in the 19th century CE. The latter interests our study – the research on experts, on the institutionalization process of the expert in education, which happened, according to Hofstetter et al (2013) 3, when the State emerged as the institution responsible for public instruction, and when the disciplinary field “education sciences”4 arose

Summary

Introduction

There seems to be a consensus that the knowledge harnessed in training and in teaching changes over time1 Based on such premise, a branch of historiographical research analyzes the processes and dynamics that involve such changes, considering the hypothesis that experts are production bringers of new knowledge. Shanteau (1992), in the article “Competence in Experts: The Role of Task Characteristics”, pointed its uses already in the 19th century BC2, whereas its research “appears” in the 19th century CE The latter interests our study – the research on experts, on the institutionalization process of the expert in education, which happened, according to Hofstetter et al (2013) 3 , when the State emerged as the institution responsible for public instruction, and when the disciplinary field “education sciences” arose. It seems to have become a mandatory passageway that cannot be ignored by political players in the management of public issues (Dumoulin et al, 2005)

Objectives

Conclusion