Fundamental Ideas as a Guiding Category in Mathematics Education—Early Understandings, Developments in German-Speaking Countries and Relations to Subject Matter Didactics

• Published in: Journal für Mathematik-Didaktik (Internet) Vol. 37; no. Suppl 1; pp. 193 - 223
• Main Author: Vohns, Andreas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.07.2016
• Subjects: Education; History of Mathematical Sciences; Mathematics; Mathematics Education; Science Education; Subject Matter Didactics; Didaktische Prinzipien; Mathematikunterricht in den Sekundarstufen; Fundamental ideas; Secondary Education; Stoffdidaktik; History of mathematics education; subject matter didactics; Fundamentale Ideen; Didactic principles; Geschichte der Mathematikdidaktik
• ISSN: 0173-5322; 1869-2699
• DOI: 10.1007/s13138-016-0086-4

In its day-to-day regime the mathematics classroom is mainly focused on students’ mastery of specific knowledge and skills currently at hand. But do they see the bigger picture? Do they get an appropriate idea of what mathematics is essentially about? Fundamental ideas have been a regularly proposed way to outline the bigger picture. That is, to provide both mathematics educators and students with several central themes that interconnect the different areas of mathematics and its applications. Such ideas should be able to guide the selection, organization and presentation of curriculum content and subsequently make mathematics more understandable for students. This article aims to offer the English-speaking reader an overview of important stages in the specific development of the understanding of fundamental ideas within the German-speaking community of mathematics education. It embeds this line of research within the subject matter didactics tradition that this volume is dedicated to and it draws comparisons to and discusses relations between “Grundvorstellungen” and fundamental ideas.