Budowa i lektura tekstu matematycznego : podstawy nauki czytania tekstów matematycznych w szkole

Abstract

The mathematical text is one of the major media of presenting mathematical knowledge and methods. It has its own specific construction, different from that of other written texts. Its reading also requires special techniques and differentiated activities. Learning how to read mathematical texts at school and in further education is another distinct didactic problem. These three problems - the structure of the mathematical text, its reading process and teaching how to read it - arc the subject of the present monograph. Both theoretical and practical considerations have been combined in the book. The theoretical analyses mostly concern the structure of the mathematical text and the reading process: the results of the author’s studies of mathematical text construction and of some mathematical language components (e.g. variables) functioning have been shown here. On the other hand, the practical considerations concentrate on the functioning of the mathematical text as a medium for teaching mathematics at school. The analysis is complemented by some didactic suggestions concerning reading such texts. The monograph is meant for the readers who study mathematical texts of all levels of education, chapters 6 and 7 concerning more advanced stages. In these chapters the author introduces and defines some new notions the plan in the text of the evidence, the domain of directionality very useful in the studies of mathematical texts. The domain of supposition, the domain of directionality and text segmentation are the subject of the analysis, with special emphasis on the notion of the variable. Some methodological issues and others are raised in the final part, where some examples of study problems have been provided, as well. Chapters 1-5 are meant mostly for schoolteachers, university lecturers and students trained to teach mathematics at school. The following problems are discussed: the importance of being able to read mathematical texts, training objectives, ways of working on methodological concepts concerning reading training, difficulties encountered and mistakes made by children while reading mathematical schoolbooks, ways of checking students’ understanding, differences between mathematical texts and others, the role of illustrations as text elements. The ending contains a list of questions (questions index) that teachers who prepare their students to read mathematical texts might ask. Some practical problems and suggestions for further consideration are a supplement to the book. They will prove useful for mathematical teacher trainees as important complement of the problems illustrated in the main part of the book. The book closes with a glossary, where all the key notions are explained.