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ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY OF THE DIDACTIC: A NEW RESEARCH

PERSPECTIVE ON DIDACTIC MATHEMATICS IN INDONESIA

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Proceeding of The Second International Conference on Education, Technology, and Sciences:
”Integrating Technology and Science into Early Childhood and Primary Education”

ANTHROPOLOGICAL THEORY OF THE

DIDACTIC: A NEW RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE ON
DIDACTIC MATHEMATICS IN INDONESIA

Zetra Hainul Putra 1 , 2 , Gustimal Witri 1 *

1)
Department of Elementary School Teacher Education, Faculty of Teacher Training
and Education, University of Riau, Indonesia
2)
Department of Science Education, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
*)
E-mail: [email protected]

ABSTRACT

Théorie Anthropologique du Didactique/Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD)

is a new theory on didactic mathematics that was introduced by a French mathematician,
Chevellard, in 1991. The ATD is an epistemological model of mathematical knowledge
that can be applied to investigate human mathematical activities. Chevallard (1992)
identified two aspects of a human mathematical activity that are a practical block and a
knowledge block. Both are the main component of praxeologies. The practical block
consists of a type of task (T) and a technique (τ). The type of task (T) is a task given to
pupils, and they need a technique (τ) to solve it. Meanwhile, the theoretical block
consists of a technology (θ) to explain the practical block, and a theory (Θ) is used to
justify the technology (θ). The four elements (T, τ, θ, Θ) are connected. In this paper,
we try to describe two cases based on ATD especially praxeologies. The first case is a
research by Putra (2016) about elementary teachers’ knowledge in designing contextual
problems related to the multiplication of fractions. This study focused on the analysis of
didactical praxeologies because it gave more attention to the mathematical didactics of
teachers’ representations from abstract to contextual problems. The second case is a
study done by Wijayanti (2015). She analysed how ratio and proportion present on
Indonesian mathematical textbooks. She tried to describe mathematical praxeologies of
ratio and proportion of arithmetic and geometry. The implication of both studies is that
the ATD especially praxeologies can be a model to analyse both mathematical and
didactical knowledge. Therefore, we suggest researchers apply this model as an
alternative method to study teachers’ knowledge and analysis mathematical textbooks.

Keywords: Anthropological Theory of the Didactic, Praxeologies, Practical Blocks,

Theoretical Blocks.

INTRODUCTION

In the 1980s, Yves Chevallard, a mathematician, gave his first course on the didactic
transposition processes in the first summer school in didactic mathematics in
Chamrousse, France (Bosch & Gascón, 2006; Bosch & Gascón, 2014). He proposed a
theory to explain that knowledge or mathematical objects transpose through a relation of

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”Integrating Technology and Science into Early Childhood and Primary Education”

humans in an institution (Chevallard, 1992). His theory is mostly known by the French-
speaking community, and nowadays it is disseminated to other communities and known
as Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD).

The ATD is a theory to observe human mathematical activities through an

epistemological model of mathematical knowledge (Chevallard, 1992). Some
frameworks and methods have been developed and applied through various studies in
didactic mathematics. One of them is the notion of praxeologies (Durand-Guerrier,
Winsløw & Yoshida, 2010; Hardy, 2009; Putra, 2016; Wijayanti, 2015) that can be used
as a model to study mathematical and didactical knowledge.

In this paper, we describe two cases based on the praxeologies. The first case is a
research by Putra (2016) about elementary teachers’ knowledge in designing contextual
problems related to the multiplication of fractions. This study focused on the analysis of
didactical praxeologies, mathematical didactics of teachers’ representations from
abstract to contextual problems. The second case is a study done by Wijayanti (2015).
This study analysed how ratio and proportion present on Indonesian lower secondary
school mathematical textbooks. She described mathematical praxeologies of ratio and
proportion of arithmetic and geometry.

Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD)

The ATD proposes a model to describe mathematical knowledge of human activities

through praxeologies. A praxeology consists of two components, praxis and logos
(figure 1). The praxis or practical block consists of two parts, a type of task (T) and
technique (τ). The type of task (T) is a specific kind of problems given to the learners.
In the setting of classroom teaching and learning process at the elementary school level,
the task can be taken from a mathematical textbook such as adding fractions. The pupils
need a technique (τ) to solve the task, for instance, changing each fraction into the same
denominator and adding numerators. Then, the logos or knowledge block comes from a
Greek word (Chevallard, 2006) that refer to human thinking and reasoning about the
cosmos. It also consists of two parts, a technology (θ) and a theory (Θ). The technology
(θ) is about the justification for the technique (τ) by the pupils to solve the task. They
justify that two fractions with different units can be added when those have the same
unit. Meanwhile, arithmetic of fractions plays as a theory (Θ) to explain the the
technology (θ). Those four elements (T, τ, θ, Θ) are used as a holistic model to study
human knowledge.
A theory (Θ)
Logos
Knowledge Block
A technology (θ)
Praxeologies

A technique (τ)
Praxis
Practical Block
A type of task (T)

Figure 1. A praxeological model

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Proceeding of The Second International Conference on Education, Technology, and Sciences:
”Integrating Technology and Science into Early Childhood and Primary Education”

Mostly a type of task (T) can be solved by various techniques, and a technology (θ) can
employe some kinds of techniques. An organisation of a type of task (T) and techniques
to solve that task is called as a punctual organisation. A common technology justifies
several techniques for some types of tasks, then it becomes a local organisation. Since
a theory (Θ) is often used for several technologies, it is called as a regional organisation.
In fact, a mathematical organisation is a collection of praxeologies that belongs to a
domain such as arithmetics.

The praxeologies do not only use to model and analyse mathematical knowledge but
also didactical knowledge. The type of task (T) of didactical praxeologies is about how
teachers teach mathematics such as how they organise a mathematical classroom
situation for pupils to apply some techniques to solve a task, for instance, addition of
fractions. The didactical techniques are also varied among teachers. Some of them
probably propose a direct instruction from a mathematical technique they know or
provide a contextual problem related to the task. In fact, technology-theoretical blocks
of didactical praxeologies to justify the techniques are also varied based on their
experiences and knowledge. An organisation of didactical praxeologies is known as a
didactical organisation.

Case 1: Elementary teachers’ knowledge

In this study, Putra (2016) gave a type of didactical task, constructing a contextual
problem on fraction multiplications, to 50 Indonesian in-service elementary teachers
who were taking a bachelor degree at Elementary School Teacher Education study
program, University of Riau, in 2015. They were asked to pose a contextual problem
!
for multiplication of a fraction by a whole number ×2 and multiplication of a
"
! %
fraction by a fraction × . The type of tasks for both can be written generally as
" &
follows:
'
T1 : given ×𝑐, design a contextual problem related to this equation.
(
' *
T2 : given × , design a contextual problem related to this equation.
( +

The teachers gave 2 types of correct answers and 4 types of incorrect answers. The first
type of correct answers was designing a contextual problem based on a part-whole
relationship. The example of the correct answer based on the part-whole relationship is
“A father has 2 hectares of land. ½ of this land is given to his cousin. How much land
does the father now have?”. The second type of correct answer was designing a
contextual problem based on measurement of area, for instance, a teacher wrote “Andi
would like to draw his land into a rectangle with ½ m long and 2 m wide. What is the
area of the rectangle?”. Meanwhile, the 4 types of incorrect answers were constructing
contextual problems based on repeated addition, an addition of fraction, a division of
integer, and multiplicative comparison. A teacher gave an example based on the
repeated addition as “Dina has 2 packs of rice. Each pack contains ½ kg of rice. How
much rice does Dina have?” and based on the division of integers as “A sister has 2
apples. Those apples will be given to two of her young brothers. How many apples will
be got by each brother?”

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Proceeding of The Second International Conference on Education, Technology, and Sciences:
”Integrating Technology and Science into Early Childhood and Primary Education”

The analysis for the first answer is that the teacher considered 2 as a whole and ½ is a
part of whole, so s/he probably applied this technique to construct a contextual problem
for multiplication of a fraction by a whole number. S/he interpreted the sign of “×” as
!
“a part of”. Actually, the answer does not only present ×2, but it can be interpreted as
"
!
2 − ×2 . The second correct answer to construct a contextual problem based on the
"
technique that ½ and 2 represent length and width of a rectangle, and use the formula of
length × width to find the area of a rectangle. Even the answer is correct, but it is not
really an appropriate unit (meter) to draw a rectangle in a paper.
When we analyse the two examples of incorrect answers, the first one is the technique
! ! !
based on the repeated addition that can be formulated as + = 2× . Even though the
" " "
answer for this contextual problem gives the same result with the multiplication of a
fraction by a whole number, it has different technological reasoning. Meanwhile, the
last answer is totally about the technique of division of integers as 2 is divided by 2.
There are three different types of answers for the task of type T2. The first two types are
categorised as correct answers based on measurement of area and part of a fraction. The
teacher gave examples respectively as “A rectangle is ½ m long and ¾ m wide. What is
the area of the rectangle?” and “An aunt has ¾ part of a cake. ½ of that cake will be
given to Ani. How much cake will Ani get?”. The incorrect answer is based on
subtraction of fractions. A teacher wrote “A mother wants to make a cake with ½ kg of
flour and ¾ kg of sugar. How much other materials are needed if the total weight of the
cake should be 3 kg?”.
The analysis for the techniques to explain the correct answers is almost similar to the
previous type of tasks. The teacher still chose an appropriate unit (meter) because it will
be a problem for pupils when they try to draw a rectangle. It will be better if they use a
unit such as centimeter or decimeter, so they can perfectly draw the rectangle in a paper
and find the area. The second correct example is a contextual problem based on the
technique of part of a fraction or sometimes known as a part-part relationship.
Meanwhile, the incorrect answer can be formulated as 3 - (½ + ¾). This technique is
totally away from the task of multiplication of fractions.
Case 2: Lower secondary school mathematics textbooks

The second case is about an analysis of ratio and proportion presented in lower
secondary school mathematics textbooks. This study was conducted by Wijayanti
(2015) in order to show the link between proportion in geometry (similarity) and
arithmetic (ration and proportion). She analysed examples and exercises from 6
common Indonesian textbooks for grade 7 and grade 9 through mathematical
praxeologies specifically types of task (T) and possible techniques (τ) to solve the tasks.

Wijayanti (2015) defined 3 different types of tasks for arithmetic in common textbooks.
The first one is T1Ar : given (x1, ..., xn) and (y1, ..., yn) decide if (x1, ..., xn) ~ (y1, ..., yn).
/
The second type of task is T2Ar : given (x1, ..., xn) and (y1, ..., yn) compare 0 for i = 1, ...,
/1
n, and the third one is T3Ar : given (x1, ..., xn), y1 find y2, ..., yn so that (x1, ..., xn) ~ (y1, ...,
yn). Meanwhile, she defined 2 common types of tasks for geometry in those textbooks.
The first type of task is closed related to T1Ar and it is stated as T1Gr : Given two polygons
with the same angles and also given the side lengths of two polygons that correspond

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Proceeding of The Second International Conference on Education, Technology, and Sciences:
”Integrating Technology and Science into Early Childhood and Primary Education”

to, decide if the polygons are similar, and the second type of task is closed related to
T3Ar, and it is defined as T3Gr : given similar figures with corresponding sides (x1, ..., xn)
and (y1, ..., yn) with x1, ..., xn and y1 known, find the unknown sides y2, ..., yn.

Among 6 common Indonesian textbooks, the proportion in arithmetics is introduced in

grade 7, and in geometry in grade 9 (Wijayanti, 2015). The actual tasks in the textbooks
for arithmetics are usually given trough contextual problems such as scales, speeds, and
measurement of area and others. Meanwhile, the tasks for geometry commonly state as
comparing the length of geometry figures. In Wijayanti’s study, she found that the
common types of tasks on arithmetics appeared on the textbooks based and T3Ar and T1Gr
for geometry.

We would like to give two examples from Indonesian textbooks. The first example we
take from a mathematical textbook for grade 7 written by Wintarti et al., (2008, pp.142).
The task is written as “two pupils can carry 15 books. How many books can 8 pupils
carry?” In this task, the writers proposed two mathematical techniques as follows:

Table1: Technique 1
Number of pupils Numbers of Books

2 15

4 30

8 60

Tabel 2: Technique 2
Number of pupils Numbers of Books

2 15

2 15

2 15

2 15

8 60

Wijayanti (2015) categorised this tasks as T3Ar because it can be written as tAr : given (2,
8), 15 find y, so that (2, 8) ~ (15, y). Meanwhile, the technique 1 proposed by the writers
is based on multiplicative reasoning that we can interpret as τ1 : multiply 2 by 2 and 15
by 2, and we get 4 and 30, and then multiply 4 by 2 and 30 by 2, and we get 8 and 60.
Meanwhile, the technique 2 is based on repeated addition that it can be interpreted as τ2
: 2 ~ 15, 2+2+2+2 2 ~ 15+15+15+15, so 8 ~ 60.

The second example is taken from a mathematical textbook for grade 9 written by
Wagiyo, Mulyona & Susanto (2008). The task is written as “given two similar triangles
that can be seen in the figure below (Figure 2). Determine the length of x and y?”

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Proceeding of The Second International Conference on Education, Technology, and Sciences:
”Integrating Technology and Science into Early Childhood and Primary Education”

Figure 2. Two similar triangles

The writers provided a technique as follows:

Since both triangles are similar, corresponding sides have the same ratio that can be
written as:
2 3 / 3 4 %
= = or = =
3 4 % 2 3 /
2 3
= 8𝑦 = 36
3 4
36
𝑦=
8
!
𝑦=4
"
2 /
= 6𝑦 = 24
3 %
24
𝑦=
6
𝑦=4

This task can be categorised as T3Grand can be written as tGr = given similar figures with
corresponding sides (8, 6, x) and (6, y, 3). Find the unknown sides x and y. the technique
was proposed by the writers is categorised as algebraic manipulation that it can be
/ 4 / 4
written as τ3 : if : = : , 𝑥! 𝑦" = 𝑥" 𝑦! , so 𝑦" = ; : .
/; 4; /:

DISCUSSION

We give two different cases how the ATD through praxeologies plays as a framework
to study mathematical and didactical situations in Indonesian contexts. The first case
study focused on in-service teachers’ didactical knowledge through constructing
meaningful mathematical problems for multiplication of fractions. There are two
common correct mathematical techniques for the type of task T1 and T2. The techniques
are based on the part-whole/part-part relationship and the measurement of area.

The teachers proposed more incorrect techniques for the task of type T1 than T2.
However, there were no answers proposed by teachers based on ratio and proportion.
For instance, a metal bar 2 kg weight has 1-meter long. What is the weight of a similar
!
bar that is -meter long. One important result from the study of elementary teachers’
"
knowledge on constructing contextual problems for multiplication of fraction is that the

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Proceeding of The Second International Conference on Education, Technology, and Sciences:
”Integrating Technology and Science into Early Childhood and Primary Education”

teachers proposed answers based on their mathematical knowledge. It means that the
didactical knowledge is thus closely related to a mathematical knowledge because the
didactical knowledge is about a knowledge of teaching mathematical.

From the study of lower secondary textbook analysis on ratio and proportion, it seems
that there is no type of task on geometry corresponding to T2Ar appeared in those
textbooks. Actually, a task to enlarge a geometrical figure such as a rectangle can be
interpreted as T2Gr because a pupil needs to know the ratio between width and length of
that rectangle. Meanwhile, the techniques proposed by writers for the two examples are
totally different between arithmetic and geometry. The techniques for the arithmetic task
is less formal that geometrical task. The algebraic technique applied in the geometrical
task can be used to solve the arithmetic one, and vice versa. Since we just analysed two
examples from two lower secondary textbooks, we assumed that there must be some
examples proposed more than one or two techniques, and the techniques will be varied
when pupils try to solve those tasks.

CONCLUSION

The ATD through praxeologies provides a model to study mathematical and didactical
knowledge. The praxeologis especially practical block can be used directly to model
tasks given to pupils or teachers, or tasks appeared on textbooks. From a type a task, we
can model some possible techniques that can support pupils learning process. Actually,
those two studies just an example of research on didactic mathematics in the context of
Indonesia. We hope that these can be inspired other researchers to do researches based
on the ATD in Indonesia.

REFERENCES

Bosch, M., & Gascón, J. (2006). Twenty-five years of the didactic transposition. ICMI
Bulletin, 58, 51-65.
Bosch, M., & Gascón, J. (2014). Introduction to the Anthropological Theory of the
Didactic (ATD). In A. Bikner-Ahsbahs & S. Prediger (Eds.) Networking of theories as a
research practice in mathematics education (pp. 67-83). Springer International
Publishing.
Chevallard Y. (1992). Fundamental concepts in didactics: Perspectives provided by an
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Chevallard, Y. (2006). Steps towards a new epistemology in mathematics education. In
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functions in college level calculus courses. Educational Studies in Mathematics,
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 Proceeding of The Second International Conference on Education, Technology, and Sciences:
”Integrating Technology and Science into Early Childhood and Primary Education”

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