ERIC Number: EJ964173
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012
Pages: 10
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1050-8406
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
The Missing Bodies of Mathematical Thinking and Learning Have Been Found
Stevens, Reed
Journal of the Learning Sciences, v21 n2 p337-346 2012
For a long time, the body has had a bad rap among some big names in the Western philosophical tradition. Plato and Descartes come quickly to mind as particularly bad rappers. But it appears that the body is making a comeback in the cognitive and learning sciences. Long banished from the main stage by an idealized, inside-the-head information-processing worldview, the body is steadily being rediscovered in the work of thinking and learning. A reasonably active mind has been around since the beginning of the so-called cognitive revolution. That active mind is now being reintroduced to a sensing, feeling, "thinking" body in action. Mathematics has commonly been construed as among the forms of human activity most distant from the body's experiences and its understandings. This article discusses how the missing bodies of mathematical thinking and learning have been found. It draws its empirical examples of mathematical learning from classrooms.
Descriptors: Phenomenology, Human Body, Cognitive Processes, Holistic Approach, Mathematics, World Views
Routledge. Available from: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. 325 Chestnut Street Suite 800, Philadelphia, PA 19106. Tel: 800-354-1420; Fax: 215-625-2940; Web site: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A

Peer reviewed
Direct link
