12th International Congress on Mathematical Education

Program Name XX-YY-zz (pp. abcde-fghij)

8 July – 15 July, 2012, COEX, Seoul, Korea

MATHEMATICAL THINKING STYLES AND THEIR INFLUENCE

ON TEACHING AND LEARNING MATHEMATICS
Rita Borromeo Ferri
Institute of Mathematics, University of Kassel, Germany
[email protected]

A mathematical thinking style is the way in which an individual prefers to present, to understand and
to think through, mathematical facts and connections by certain internal imaginations and/or
externalized representations. In which way mathematical thinking styles (analytic, visual and
integrated) are influence factors on the learning and teaching of mathematics is described on the
basis of selected qualitative empirical studies from primary up to secondary school.
Within the current MaTHSCu-project the styles are measured quantitatively by comparing
mathematical thinking styles in eastern and western. This study is introduced and finally conclusions
and implications for school are drawn.

INTRODUCTION
„I experienced myself, how mathematics can be opened by one teacher and closed by
another.” (Wagenschein 1983)
This citation comes from Martin Wagenschein (1896-1988), who was a pedagogue, math and
physics teacher and a lecturer at several universities in Germany. Parts of his work also
influenced the discussion in mathematics education in Germany. This citation is an
appropriate starting point for thinking about preferred ways to learn and understand
mathematics for one’s own and as from researcher’s perspective as well. How do you like to
learn and understand mathematics? This is quite a simple question – but offers a lot of
interesting answers, if pupils and students from primary up to secondary and vocational
schools and university were asked:
“I understand mathematics the best way, when Mrs. D. is drawing pictures on the table,
because I need these pictures also in my mind.” (David, 10 years, Grade 4)
„I like to learn mathematics with numbers and symbols. Sketches do not help me really in my
process of understanding.“ (Gloria, 16 years, Grade 10)
“My previous teacher explained fast and much and did not make any drawings… My new
teacher always makes a drawing and now I understand how to come to the result, not like only
by formulae and calculation.” (Sarah, 15 years, Grade 9)

abcde
Borromeo Ferri

There are kinds of explanations which cause young people to understand mathematical
methods well and others through which they only understand a little. Some individuals like
pictures and visualizations or some prefer formulae and variables and again others like
something in between pictures and formulae. Having a good or bad understanding of
mathematics is not an unusual matter of fact happening during school time and is influenced
by a lot of factors. Not only teachers also many psychologists and pedagogues still share the
opinion that success and failure of learning are exclusively caused by individually different
learning abilities. Similarly, it remains still unanswered why the same pupil produces bad
results in a multiple-choice task in mathematics while within a math-project he or she
produces extraordinary results. Mathematical abilities are probably the first explanation,
which comes in mind. But mathematical abilities are not the whole answer to these
phenomena. Another, meantime well-funded explanation, is based on mathematical thinking
styles (visual, analytic and integrated thinking style), which are preferences for using our
mathematical abilities.
So in the following, the theory of Mathematical Thinking Styles (MTS) is described
theoretically and on the basis of qualitative and quantitative empirical studies. These
demonstrate how mathematical thinking styles influence the teaching and learning of
mathematics. The MaTHSCu-Project (Mathematical Thinking Styles in School and Across
Cultures (since 2012); Project leader: Rita Borromeo Ferri) focuses on the question, if there
are differences in mathematical thinking styles of 15 year old pupils and their math teachers
in eastern and western cultures (South Korea1, Japan2 and Germany).

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF MATHEMATICAL THINKING STYLES

The term mathematical thinking style is characterised as follows:
“A mathematical thinking style is the way in which an individual prefers to present, to
understand and to think through, mathematical facts and connections by certain internal
imaginations and/or externalized representations. Hence, a mathematical style is based on
two components: 1) internal imaginations and externalized representations, 2) on the wholist
respectively the dissecting way of proceeding.” (Borromeo Ferri 2004, 2010)
A central characteristic of the construct mathematical thinking style is the distinction between
abilities and preferences as mentioned before. Mathematical thinking styles are about how a
person likes to understand and learn mathematics and not about how good this person
understands mathematics. This approach is based on the theory of thinking styles of Sternberg
(1997). So in the sense of Sternberg (1997), “A style is a way of thinking. It is not an ability,
but rather, a preferred way of using the abilities one has.” That means that thinking styles are
not viewed as being unchangeable, but they may change depending on time, environment and
life demands. Sternberg and Wagner (1991) created a Thinking Styles Inventory for testing
13 different thinking styles based in Sternbergs (1997) theory of mental-self-government.

1
Many thanks to Prof. Oh Nam Kwon and Prof. Mi-Kyung from the Seoul National University, South Korea.
2
Many thanks to Prof. Toshikazu Ikeda from the Yokohama National University, Japan.

Abcde+3 ICME-12, 2012

Borromeo Ferri

These styles were not mathematical thinking styles, but he used this test in schools,
universities and other professional area. Besides Sternberg’s theory of thinking styles also
Riding & Rayner (1998) and Riding (2001) have to be mentioned, who dealt with cognitive
style dimensions (verbalizer-imager, wholist-anayltics) and questions how information can
be differently understood on an internal and external level. For Riding & Rayner (1998, 8) a
“cognitive style is seen as a preferred and habitual approach to both organizing and
representing information.” So one part of the characterization of mathematical thinking styles
make clear, that a preferred way of learning and understanding mathematics can also be
distinguished in the way of proceeding. This means a task can be solved in a dissecting or in a
wholistic way in combination to several modes of representation for example analytically or
visually. The named representations were from great interest for gaining the theory of
mathematical thinking styles. In the literature one can find a lot of classifications of thinking.
In 1892, in German, Klein constructed a typology of three different thinking styles. This
classification was based on observations in cooperation with other mathematicians and not
based on empirical studies:
"1) The philosopher who constructs on the basis of concepts
2) The analyst who essentially "operates" with a formula
3) The geometer whose starting point is a visual one (“Anschauung”)"
(quoted from Tobies 1987, 44) (Original in German, translated by the author)
A similar typology, restricted to visual and analytic thinking styles, is found in Hadamard
(1945). Unlike Hadamard, but similar to Klein, Burton (1995, 95) identified three, and not
two, styles of thinking: visual, analytic and conceptual thinking style. Furthermore Skemp
(1987) distinguished between verbal and algebraic symbols for understanding mathematics
and many other researchers are dealing with the question, which kind of representation could
be effectively on learning mathematics. The analysis of the typologies or classifications of
thinking and of how they were evolved illustrated, that they were not reconstructed with
pupils at school. So in the first qualitative study (Borromeo Ferri 2003, 2004) the goal was to
reconstruct visual, analytic and conceptual thinking styles with pupils from Grade 9 and 10
during their pair-problem solving process. The design of the study was very complex for
grasping the construct of the construct “style” (preference) itself and the representation
(visual, analytic, conceptual) and the way of proceeding (wholist, dissecting) out of the data,
stimulated recall and interview. The aim was not only to reconstruct these preferences, but to
find explanations, what it means to be a visual or an analytic thinker. So Grounded Theory
(Straus & Corbin 1990) was the appropriate method for analysing the data. The results of the
study showed, that the conceptual thinking style could not be reconstructed, but the following
table, makes the two components of the characterisation of mathematical thinking styles
again clear:

ICME-12, 2012 abcde+2

Borromeo Ferri

Figure 1: Model to describe the construct mathematical thinking styles and their
different kinds of mathematical thinking styles.
Some explanation of this model: Component 1) includes internal imaginations and
externalized representations. Through this, I define internal types as individuals who mainly
assimilate facts internally and who do not see the necessity for representations (except if they
serve as means of communication). External types, however, make external representations.
If their internal imaginations match with the externalized representations (e.g.
picture-picture) they are called congruent, if these do not match (e.g. picture-symbolic), they
are called incongruent. Component 2) examines the process of solving the task which can be
understood in a wholist way (task is exploited from the whole to parts of it), in a dissecting
way (task is exploited from parts to the whole) and in ways combining these two “pure” ways.
Based on this an empirical grounded description of the characteristics of the visual, analytic
and integrated thinking style could be developed:
 Visual thinking style: Visual thinkers show preferences for distinctive internal
pictorial imaginations and externalized pictorial representations as well as preferences
for the understanding of mathematical facts and connections through holistic
representations. The internal imaginations are mainly effected by strong associations
with experienced situations.
 Analytical thinking style: Analytic thinkers show preferences for internal formal
imaginations and for externalized formal representations. They are able to
comprehend mathematical facts preferably through existing symbolic or verbal
representations and prefer to proceed rather in a sequence of steps.
 Integrated thinking style: These persons combine visual and analytic ways of thinking
and are able to switch flexibly between different representations or ways of
proceeding.

Mathematical Thinking Styles have principles, they

 are not mathematical abilities, but preferences how these abilities like to be used;
 are attributes of the personality, because preferences are connected with positive
affects;
Abcde+3 ICME-12, 2012
Borromeo Ferri

 are not mathematical problem solving strategies, because strategies are on a higher
level of consciousness;
 are partly influences by (mathematical) socialisation3, which means, that parents or
in most cases teachers give guidelines how mathematics has to be learned and
represented during lessons or tests, for example with or without visualisation,
pictorial sketches etc.;

THE INFLUENCE ON THE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF MATHEMATICS –

RESULTS OF EMIRICAL STUDIES
In this chapter results of two empirical studies will demonstrate at first, in which way
mathematical thinking styles influence the teaching and learning of mathematics. Then the
mentioned comparative study within the MaTHSCu-Project is described and so is
highlighting the cultural perspective.

Mathematical Thinking Styles in Primary School

After reconstructing mathematical thinking styles in grade 9 and 10 for creating the theory,
the question aroused, if these styles could also be reconstructed with primary kids4. On the
one hand the relevance for learning elementary mathematical ideas, ways of thinking and
algorithms in primary school was evident, but on the other hand the conceptual development
could be not enough to grasp different styles. So an explorative qualitative study was done
with two classes in at the beginning of grade 4 (sample: 40 pupils and their teachers). For this
study a questionnaire (open items) was developed and used, which firstly should give some
ideas for preferences for certain styles. Both classes were then observed for two weeks during
mathematics and science lessons. Four kids from each class solved mathematical problems on
their own and were videotaped and also interviewed afterwards. The combination of these
instruments and the analysis of the several kinds of data made it possible to reconstruct
different mathematical thinking styles. Having in mind, that in primary school mathematical
hands-on materials and several kinds of representation-modes of numbers are used for
constructing amongst others the number sense, it was interesting to see personal preferences
at all. For getting a short insight, mathematical thinking styles of two children, Hanna (8
years) and Jens (9 years) are briefly described. Both solved the following problem:
A cochlea is at the bottom of a 20m deep standpipe. She wants to crawl to the top. During the
day she crawls 5m up, but in the night she glides 2m down. At which day does the cochlea
arrive at the top?
This problem can be solved in a wholistic and dissecting way in combination with using only
numbers or also with a sketch for drawing the crawling of the cochlea up and down and of

3
Due to the restriction of pages, empirical finding concerning mathematical socialisation in combination with
mathematical thinking styles could not be included in this paper. This would be another contribution.
4
In Germany primary school is from grade 1 to grade 4, ages from 6-10 years.

ICME-12, 2012 abcde+2

Borromeo Ferri

course without writing something down. Seven of the eight videotaped children got the right
solution (on the 6th days in the evening).
Hanna (8 years) could be reconstructed as an analytic thinker on the basis of the
questionnaire, the observations, problem solving processes and the interview. She likes
numbers and operating with number and also when her teacher is writing calculations on the
board. Hanna solved the problem without writing something down, so very internal oriented,
although her formal-dissecting way became apparent: “…three metres, early in the morning,
second day. ... seven metres ...no, eight metres, late in the evening at the second day..” Hanna
did not speak about the cochlea; she had numbers and calculation processes in her mind.
Jens (9 years) could be reconstructed as a visual thinker on the basis of the
questionnaire, the observations, problem solving process and the interview. In the
questionnaire he marked “I like to understand mathematics, if my teacher makes
drawings and pictures on the board”. In the interview Jens confirmed this way of
understanding and learning mathematics again. For solving the problem he makes a
sketch (at the left one can see a part of the drawing). During the solving process he
said: “Yeah I see the cochlea crawling up and down and I need to draw it down.”
Summarizing this explorative study in primary school, it was in particular of high interest to
see different preferences for understand and learning mathematics at that age and so supports
the principle of a mathematical thinking style as an attribute of personality.

Influence of mathematical thinking styles on the mathematical modelling behaviour

The aim of the project COM² (“Cognitive-psychological analysis of modelling processes in
mathematics lessons”; 2005-2010), directed by the author, was to analyse teachers’ and
students’ actions, ways of thinking, in sum, their behaviour while working on modelling
problems in mathematics lessons from a cognitive perspective (see Borromeo Ferri 2010,
2011). For that aim, mathematical thinking styles were used as “theoretical glasses” for
analysing this behaviour and to interpret this. Without going deeply in the discussion of
mathematical modelling, the central research questions of the COM²-project were:
 How do grade 10 pupils solve modelling tasks, and what influences do the
mathematical thinking styles of the learners have on their modelling processes in
reality-oriented mathematics lessons?
 How do mathematical thinking styles of teachers influence their way of dealing with
mathematical modelling problems in the classroom? Are there differences with respect
to the various phases of the modelling cycle (real situation, situation model, real
model, mathematical model, mathematical results, real results)?
The design of this qualitative study was highly complex, because both teachers and pupils
were in the focus. Three grade 10 classes from different Gymnasien (German Grammar
Schools) were chosen. The sample was comprised of 65 pupils and 3 teachers (one male, two
female). Each individual in a class had to complete a questionnaire on mathematical thinking
styles, which has been developed on the basis of the Ph.D. thesis Borromeo Ferri (2004). The

Abcde+3 ICME-12, 2012

Borromeo Ferri

pupils were given three different modelling tasks, one per lesson (three lessons altogether). In
each of the classes one group was videotaped during the whole lesson. Focused interviews
were conducted with the teachers to reconstruct in each case his or her mathematical thinking
style (the male teacher was analytic thinker, one female teacher was a visual thinker and the
other female teacher was an integrated thinker). As one appropriate method within the field of
qualitative research I used Grounded Theory (Strauss & Corbin 1996) because one central
aim is the possibility to generate a theory on a code-based procedure.
As a quantitative result, when looking at the statement given from visual and analytic thinkers
during their modelling processes altogether 87 verbal statements of analytic thinkers in the
realm of mathematics and only 48 statements in reality where their preference. The spread of
the visual thinkers is not so high (mathematics: 65; reality: 73), their preference on reality
becomes nevertheless apparent. On the basis of deep qualitative analysis different kinds of
modelling behaviour became visible, which are summarized in their central characteristics:
 Analytic thinkers usually change to the mathematical model immediately and return to
the real model only afterwards when the need arises to understand the task better. They
work mainly in a formalistic manner and are better at “perceiving” the mathematical
aspects of a given real situation.
 Visual thinkers mostly imagine the situation in pictures and use pictographic
drawings. Their argumentation during the modelling process is mostly very vividly
even they work within the mathematical model. They often follow the normative
modelling cycle.
But also the mathematical thinking style of the three investigated teachers had great influence
on their teaching behavior. To make this more concrete on the basis of the analysis: A
teacher’s mathematical thinking style can be reconstructed and manifests itself during
individual pupil-teacher conversations, as well as during discussions of solutions, and while
imparting knowledge of mathematical facts. Very interesting was that teachers who differ in
their mathematical thinking styles have preferences for focusing on different parts of the
modelling cycle, while discussing the solutions of the problems and while helping students
during their modelling processes. For pupils who share the mathematical thinking style of the
teacher will have a better way of understanding, because both are talking in the same
“mathematical language”. If there is a mismatch between teacher’ and pupils’ style this also
can have consequences for the learning processes and at least in learners’ performance. It is
obvious for teachers to reflect about their own mathematical thinking style to be flexible in
their way of teaching. In the COM²-project we showed all teachers some clips of their lessons
and did a stimulated-recall asking them, if they recognized personal “teaching-patterns”. But
mostly teachers were not aware of their behaviour during modelling activities in the
classroom, and were astonished about their preferences for certain parts of the modelling
process, connected to their mathematical thinking style.
Mr. Peters for example was reconstructed as an analytic thinker on the basis of the interview
and observations. In the stimulated-recall he was asked:
Interviewer: Do you think that you have a preference for formalising?

ICME-12, 2012 abcde+2

Borromeo Ferri

Mr. Peters: “I didn’t think about that yet, for me that is mathematics, yes, Iam doing
mathematics. But yes, I like formalising mathematics.”
Mrs. Heidkamp especially recognized her strong preference for visual thinking (she was
reconstructed as a visual thinker) after looking the video-clips.
Interviewer: You recognized that you are a visual thinker. Do you have experiences
concerning situations “speaking not the same language” with some pupils?
Mrs. Heidkamp: “Yes, I had a girl who came from another school in my math class. After a
while she came to me and told me that she is not able to understand me. She did not
understand me! Now I think, that she means my explanations, my mathematical explanations,
perhaps they were too visual for her or not concrete enough.”
The situation Mrs. Heidkamp is reporting about is a wonderful example for this mismatch
between teachers’ and pupils’ mathematical thinking styles mentioned earlier. Consequences
concerning mathematical performance are obvious, because this mismatch induces even
though unconsciously impressions of weak mathematical abilities of pupils. Already Zhang
& Sternberg (2001, 204) pointed out:
“Findings from a third study indicated that teachers inadvertently favored those students
whose thinking styles that were similar to their own.”

Mathematical Thinking Styles in School and Across Cultures (MaTHSCu)

The described studies using the theory of mathematical thinking styles for looking at
thinking, teaching and learning processes were all qualitative. So a lack of research was the
construction of appropriate scales for mathematical thinking styles, which was directly
connected with the open question, if the construct of mathematical thinking style can be
determined quantitatively. When Sternberg started working on his Thinking Styles Inventory,
he made clear that “styles do indeed appear to be largely distinct from intelligence or
aptitudes.” (Sternberg & Grigorenko 1997, 708) Anyhow Sternberg emphasized these
distinctions for his thirteen different styles this is also applied for mathematical thinking
styles. But the areas of conflict of style with abilities, intelligence and aptitudes were
considered when developing a psychometric test for mathematical thinking styles for pupils
and teachers.
In doing so the aim was to find answers for a lot of research questions who could not attended
so far on a general level such as:
 Are there differences in the stylistic patterns of boys and girls?
 Are there correlations between mathematical thinking styles and beliefs?
 Are there correlations between preferences for certain mathematical thinking styles
and mathematical performance?
 Are there cultural differences in mathematical thinking styles, in particular between
eastern and western cultures?

Abcde+3 ICME-12, 2012

Borromeo Ferri

Before the focus will be on the last question, some aspects of the construction of the
mathematical thinking style scales are described.
On the basis of the theory of mathematical thinking styles (have a look at figure 1 again) 27
items could be developed for pupils (for grade 9 and 10) and specified for teachers. The
“thinking-style-scale” comprised four different sub-scales:
1) visual (5 Items) 2) analytic/formal (5 items) (kinds representation)
3) wholistic (4 Items) 4) dissecting (5 items) (ways of proceeding)
Additionally the following two sub-scales will be correlated for generating the stylistic
patters:
5) internal (4 items) 6) external (4 items) (types of assimilating information)
Examples for items for the subscale “analytic thinking” are: Variables and formulae are
helpful for me to understand mathematics; I like to use a formula, when I have to solve a
mathematical problem. For estimating a four-step interval-scale is used. All items were
piloted several times with pupils, teachers and students. After the final pilot study the scales
had a good till satisfied reliability5 (cronbachs alpha): visual (.77), analytic (.90), wholist
(.80), dissecting (.60), internal (.65), external (.77). Besides these scales, also four problem
solving tasks (open format) were integrated in the test and therefore a coding manual was
developed concerning the way of representation and the way of proceeding accompanied with
items who asked after the kind of associations or ideas pupils had directly after reading the
problem and after they had solved the problem. Furthermore scales from PISA
(PISA-Consortium 2003) were integrated in the test, in particular scales of beliefs,
self-efficacy, motivation, emotion and concerning exercising mathematics. The questionnaire
of the teachers includes besides the scales of mathematical thinking styles also scales of
beliefs and how they exercise mathematics. Furthermore a semi-structured interview will
give more informations about several teachers.
One central goal of MaTHSCu-project is the comparison of mathematical thinking styles of
15 year old pupils and their math teachers in western cultures (Germany) and eastern
respectively Confucian cultures (South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan and China; see
Biggs 1996, 46). In particular results in the area of the culture comparative research area of
psychology, which often compared thinking processes of individuals in China vs. USA,
pointed out over and over again the preference of Asian people for seeing situations very
holistically. On the contrary western individuals have preferences for analytic perspectives
(Nisbett 2001, Nisbett & Masuda 2001). Besides Schwank (1996) in particular Cai (1995,
1998, 2002) conducted studies concerning mathematical thinking in eastern and western
cultures using routine and problem solving tasks in an open format. As central results Cai
emphasised, that individuals from the USA often used pictorial and Chinese individuals
rather numeric or symbolic solving processes. As an open question Cai (2002, 281) is asking:
“Is it possible that these Chinese students might have used visualization mentally, but hey
expressed their solutions in non-visual forms (e.g. algebraic equations)? On the other hand, is

5
results of the students‘ questionnaire

ICME-12, 2012 abcde+2

Borromeo Ferri

it possible that U.S. students have just used drawing strategies because teachers told them so
and they did not necessarily think visually?” For answering these questions Cai did not
enforced further studies for investigating these phenomena. Even though in the actual
discussion are no findings, in which way individual preferences of mathematical thinking
styles could be measured in in eastern and western cultures. Although there are differences
between both cultures concerning education as well as learning and teaching which are deeply
fixed, but mathematical thinking styles are individual preferences and so can be independent
of the cultural background. Looking at the societal development of both cultures (as a western
culture the Greece stressed individual freedom, “so Chinese see themselves as a part of
manifold networks” Kühnen 2003, 14) the conception of education become apparent. Central
terms like integration and harmony characterises the teaching and learning situation of the
East Asian philosophy (Leung 2001, 44). Vollstedt (2011a, 2011b) reconstructed in her
qualitative comparative study of pupils from Hongkong and Germany different types of
sense-construction of mathematics, which reflected the described cultural background.
So, all these studies highlighted important, interesting and different aspects of both cultures
concerning learning and teaching mathematics. Investigating mathematical thinking styles of
teachers and students will give again further findings. Due to the fact that the data collection
and data analysis is not finished at the moment, I cannot implement these in this proposal, but
in the final form of the ICME-12-proceedings and for the presentation. Elements of the design
of this study were mentioned earlier. The data is analyzed statistically with the software SPSS
and the method of latent-class analysis will give insight when comparing the stylistic patterns
of both cultures and should test one of the obvious hypotheses, that pupils of eastern cultures
have preferences for the analytic thinking style and for the wholistic way of proceeding and
pupils of western cultures have preferences for the visual thinking style and for the analytic
way of proceeding.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

This article is aimed to show the theory of mathematical thinking styles and how different
mathematical thinking styles (visual, analytic and integrated) could be reconstructed in
several qualitative studies. Also in primary school preferences for mathematical thinking
styles of pupils became visible and in the COM²-project the influence of these styles on the
modelling behaviour of pupils and teachers were explicit. Finally the current quantitative
oriented and comparative study shall answer more questions concerning mathematical
thinking styles as one influence factor on the teaching and learning of mathematics also in a
cultural context.
Furthermore, the presented results obtained up to present indicate a highly didactical
relevance of these kinds of studies: Its significance for mathematics lessons is obvious. Pupils
who are not sharing the mathematical thinking style with their teacher may have problems of
understanding, but if the teacher is conscious of his own style and arranges mathematical
facts in different ways, problems of understanding could be prevented. These results correlate
with results from other empirical studies (Zhang & Sternberg, 2001)

Abcde+3 ICME-12, 2012

Borromeo Ferri

Therefore, it is necessary that teachers become conscious about their own mathematical
thinking style, on the one hand in order to guarantee equality of chances among pupils, and on
the other hand to develop their own mathematical potentials. Doing this and so coming back
to the citation of Wagenschein at the beginning, mathematics would not be closed for him
from teacher to teacher.

References
Biggs, J.B. (1996). Western misperceptions of the confucian-heritage learning culture. In
D.A. Watkins & J.B. Biggs (Eds.), The Chinese Learner. Cultural, psychological and
contextual influences. Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre, (pp.45-67)
The University of Hong Kong; The Australien Cuncil for Educational Research.
Borromeo Ferri, R. & Kaiser, G. (2003). First Results of a Study of Different Mathematical
Thinking Styles of Schoolchildren. In Burton , L. (Ed.) Which Way?: Social Justice in
Mathematics Education (pp. 209-239), London : Greenwood.
Borromeo Ferri, R. (2004). Mathematische Denkstile. Ergebnisse einer empirischen Studie.
Hildesheim: Franzbecker.
Borromeo Ferri, R. (2010). On the influence of mathematical thinking styles on learners’
modelling behaviour. In: Journal für Mathematikdidaktik, 31 (1), 99-118.
Borromeo Ferri, R. (2011). Wege zur Innenwelt des mathematischen Modellierens. -
Kognitive Analysen von Modellierungsprozessen im Mathematikunterricht. Wiesbaden:
Vieweg+Teubner.
Borromeo Ferri, R. & Blum, W. (2009). Insight into teachers‘ unconscious behaviour in
modelling contexts. In Lesh, R. et al. (Eds.) Modelling students' modelling competencies
(ICTMA13) (pp. 423-432), New York: Springer.
Burton, L. (1995). Moving towards a Feminist Epistemology of Mathematics. In Educational
Studies in Mathematics, 28 (2) 275-291.
Cai, J. (1995). A cognitive analysis of U.S. and Chinese students’ mathematical performance
on tasks involving computation, simple problem solving, and complex problem solving. In
Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, monograph series 7, Reston, VA:
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics.
Cai, J. (1998). An investigation of U.S. and Chinese students’ mathematical problem posing
and problem solving. In Mathematics Education Research Journal (10), 37-50.
Cai, J. (2002). Assessing and Understandig U.S. and Chinese Students‘ Mathematical
Thinking: Some Issues from Cross-National Studies. In Zentralblatt für Didaktik der
Mathematik, 34 (6), 278-290.
Hadamard, J. (1945). The Psychology of Invention in the Mathematical Field. Toronto:
Princeton University Press.
Kühnen, U. (2003). Denken auf Asiatisch. In Gehirn & Geist (3), 10-15.
Leung, F.K.S. (2001). In search of an east asian identity in mathematics education. In
Educational Studies in Mathematics, 47( 81), 35-51.

ICME-12, 2012 abcde+2

Borromeo Ferri
Masuda, T. & Nisbett, R.E. (2001). Attending Holistically Versus Analytically. In Journal of
Personality and Social psychology (81), 922.
Nisbett, R.E. (2003). The Geography of Thought. London: Nicholas Brealey Publ. Ltd.
PISA-Konsortium Deutschland (Eds.) (2006). PISA 2003. Dokumentation der
Erhebungsinstrumente. Münster: Waxmann.
Riding, R. & Rayner, S. (1998). Cognitive Styles and learning strategies. London: David
Fulton.
Riding. R. (2001). The Nature and Effects of Cognitive Style. In Sternberg, R. & Zhang,
Li-Fang (Eds.). Perspectives on Thinking, Learning and Cognitive Styles. (pp. 47-72)
London: Erlbaum.
Schwank, I. (1996). Zur Konzeption prädikativer versus funktionaler kognitiver Strukturen
und ihrer Anwendungen. In Zentralblatt für Didaktik der Mathematik (6), 168-183.
Skemp, R. (1987). The Psychology of Learning Mathematics. Hillsdale NJ: Erlbaum.
Sternberg, R. & Wagner, R. (1991). MSG Thinking Styles Inventory – Manual.
Sternberg, R. & Grigorenko, E. (1997). Are cognitive styles still in style? In American
Psychologist, 52 (7), 700-712.
Sternberg, R. (1997). Thinking Styles. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sternberg, R. & Li-Fang Zhang (Eds.) (2001). Perspectives on Thinking Learning, and
Cognitive Styles. London: Erlbaum.
Strauss, A. & Corbin J. (1990). Basics of Qualitative Research . London: Sage.
Tobies, R. (1987). Zur Berufungspolitik Felix Kleins. Grundsätzliche Ansichten. In
NTM-Schriftenreihe Geschichte, Naturwissenschaft, Technik, Medizin, 24 (2), 43-52.
Vollstedt, M. (2011a). On the classification of personal meaning: Theory-governed typology
vs. empiricism-based clusters. In Ubuz, B. (Ed.) Proceedings of the 35th Conference of the
International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, (Vol. 4, pp. 321-328).
Ankara, Turkey: PME.
Vollstedt, M. (2011b). The impact of context and culture on the construction of personal
meaning. In ERME (European Research in Mathematics Education) (Eds.), European
Research in Mathematics Education VII. Proceedings of the Seventh Congress of the
European Society for Research in Mathematics Education. Rzeszów, Poland: University
of Rzeszów.
Wagenschein, M. (1983). Erinnerungen für morgen. Weinheim: Beltz.

Abcde+3 ICME-12, 2012