Values in Mathematics Education: Its Conative Nature, and How It Can Be Developed

Abstract

This article looks back and also looks forward at the values aspect of school mathematics teaching and learning. Looking back, it draws on existing academic knowledge to explain why the values construct has been regarded in recent writings as a conative variable, that is, associated with willingness and motivation. The discussion highlights the tripartite model of the human mind which was first conceptualised in the eighteenth century, emphasising the intertwined and mutually enabling processes of cognition, affect, and conation. The article also discusses what we already know about the nature of values, which suggests that values are both consistent and malleable. The trend in mathematics educational research into values over the last three decades or so is outlined. These allow for an updated definition of values in mathematics education to be offered in this article. Considering the categories of values that might be found in mathematics classrooms, an argument is also made for more attention to be paid to general educational values. After all, the potential of the values construct in mathematics education research extends beyond student understanding of and performance in mathematics, to realising an ethical mathematics education which is important for thriveability in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Looking ahead, then, this article outlines a 4-step values development approach for implementation in the classroom, involving Justifying, Essaying, Declaring, and Identifying. With an acronym of JEDI, this novel approach has been informed by the theories of ‘saying is believing’, self-persuasion, insufficient justification, and abstract construals.