Making abstract mathematics concrete in and out of school

Author(s): David Swanson and Julian Williams

Source: Educational Studies in Mathematics , June 2014, Vol. 86, No. 2, Special Issue:
Characterising and developing vocational mathematical knowledge (Candia Morgan
shadow editor) (June 2014), pp. 193-209
Published by: Springer

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Educ Stud Math (2014) 86:193-209
DOI 1 0. 1 007/s 1 0649-0 1 4-9536-4

Making abstract mathematics concrete in and out of school

David Swanson • Julian Williams

Published online: 6 February 2014

fy The Authors) 2014.This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com

Abstract We adopt a neo-Vygotskian view that a fully concrete scientific concept can only
emerge from engaging in practice with systems of theoretical concepts, such as when
mathematics is used to make sense of outside school or vocational practices. From this
perspective, the literature on mathematics outside school tends to dichotomise in- and out-
of-school practice and glamorises the latter as more authentic and situated than academic
mathematics. We then examine case study ethnographies of mathematics in which this picture
seemed to break down in moments of mathematical problem solving and modelling in
practice: (1) when amateur or professional players decided to investigate the mathematics o
darts scoring to develop their "outing" strategies and (2) when a prevocational mathematics
course task challenged would-be mathematics teachers' concept of fractions. These examples
are used to develop the Vygotskian framework in relation to vocational and workplace
mathematics. Finally, we propose that a unified view of mathematics, outside and inside
school, on the basis of Vygotsky's approach to everyday and scientific thought, can usefully
orientate further research in vocational mathematics education.

Keywords Vygotsky • Abstract and concrete mathematics • Vocational mathematics • In and out
of school

1 Introduction

In this paper, we approach vocational mathematics education from a neo-Vygotskian perspec-

tive, centred on a particular view of what constitutes scientific conceptualisation and activity.
The experimental and theoretical work of Vygotsky (1986) and his colleagues led to a
distinction between scientific concepts, everyday concepts and various forms of pre-
conceptual thought. He stressed, however, that this categorisation was a theoretical one and
that, in practice, for adults, these forms can co-exist, that movement frequently occurs from
one form to the other and that no clear dividing line exists between them. What differentiates
conceptual thought (whether everyday or scientific) from the prior developmental forms, in

D. Swanson (3) • J. Williams

School of Education, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
e-mail: [email protected]
J. Williams
e-mail: [email protected]

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 194 D. Swanson, J. Williams

thisframework, is aigued to be
concrete (1998, p. 37).
We take the term abstract in th
of grouping or synthesis and,
things are grouped). This second
abstraction in Vygotsky's work
more specifically, the "percept
impressions or function, respe
play a role in development from
view "the abstracted elements ap
are embedded" (p. 135). "A conc
anew and the resulting abstract
For Vygotsky, what then signif
thought, is that the concepts
important here, as everyday co
example: brother, sister, mothe
ships. Our view is that, just as
perceptual and practical, every
ships in perception and practical
ly rooted in such relationship
including mathematical - relatio
Therefore, everyday concepts,
dominated by the surface relat
concepts, in contrast, encourag
"placed within a system of relat
is on the role of schooling in i
aware of the danger of "empty
rich development in relation
scientific concepts outside of sch
between abstract systems and liv
would suggest stressing the sec
thought to strive for realization
say, for a scientific system to b
practice which cannot easily be
From this perspective, then, w
relation to everyday mathemat

2 Mathematics outside school

Our current understandings of

(1988) and others to the dominan
learn is bound up with what you
activity takes was rightly argue
body, activity, other people, art
activity outside of school therefo
or outright dismissal, of the m
example, supermarket shoppe
(Carraher, Carraher, & Schliema

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Making abstract mathematics concreto in and out of school 1 95

was also found to be more accurate and foolproof than when the same subjects
apparently isomorphic school mathematics. In the outside world, people were more "i
their activities, interacting with the setting, generating problems in relation with th
controlling problem solving processes" (Lave, 1988, p. 70), using other resources
arithmetic less, but in a more integrated and meaningful way.
Studies of mathematics in the workplace were integral to this wider categoiy of e
street mathematics and were the source of many findings. For example, Nunes,
and Carraher (1993) found "both flexibility and transfer were more clearly demo
everyday practices than for the school-taught proportions algorithm" (p. 126), when
ing proportional knowledge in the workplace. Such practices could utilise and preser
due to their derivation from activity which has a purpose, allowing social and empir
be utilised alongside logical relationships, thus increasing the complexity that could b
and decreasing the errors. Similar findings have been noted in a variety of vo
example, within nursing (Noss, Pozzi, & Hoyles, 1999), where a practical meaning of
of an average is seen to be more efficient and effective than the school mathematics
to it being "webbed" together with practical and professional expertise.
Re-conceptualising all this in Vygotskian terms and within Activity Theory ge
Blunden, 2010), we suggest that these activities have their motives in production , a
matics becomes embedded in such activities just to the extent that it is functional to
This fossilization (Vygotsky, 1 997, p. 7 1 ) of the mathematics - often in physical art
procedures, or fused in situated concepts - means that the acting subject is gen
aware of the mathematics embedded there. It is concrete but not theoretical for the
not preclude the existence of abstraction or elements of abstract systems within
which can aid limited forms of generalisation to contexts with similar elements,
et al. (1993), or in the situated abstractions of Noss, Hoyles, and Pozzi (2002). But th
system remains the perceptual and action-bound one in which they are embedded, t
conscious awareness and control of the mathematical system per se.
In contrast to everyday and workplace mathematical activity, the situated cognit
ture above has variously characterised school mathematics as inauthentic, proced
lation driven, detached from meaning, passive, formal, formulaic, algorithmic, lear
and lacking specific purpose. In terms of the framework we have outlined, this
"empty verbalism" described earlier. However, we would argue that it illustrates
weak interrelation with the concrete in school mathematics, but also weak atten
systemic nature of the abstract formal system too, as school curricula often atomiz
limit the systemic connections that can be made in mathematics (e.g., Gainsburg
These criticisms of schooling have encouraged efforts to bring the concrete re
workplace or outside into schools as curriculum tools so as to encourage more me
purposeful activity there (Wake & Williams, 2000; Williams & Wake, 2007a), alth
the understanding that transition between contexts is problematic (Nicol, 200
2000). Such approaches are then also seen as better preparation for the reality of th
(e.g., Bakker, Kent, Derry, Noss, & Hoyles, 2008). In addition, vocational edu
design approaches and tools which more efficiently develop situated knowledge
workplace (e.g., Bakker, Groenveld, Wijers, Akkerman, & Gravemeijer, 2012).
However, alongside this, it has been suggested that changes in the demands of
workplace require a rethinking of the relationship with school, at least for a m
black-boxing of mathematics in artefacts (Latour, 1987) and in activity system
Williams & Wake, 2007a) is seen to be problematic as the nature of demands o
changes. "Making the invisible visible," by opening up these black boxes, cou
improve efficiency, production and profitability (Bakker, Hoyles, Kent, & Noss

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 196 D. Swanson, J. Williams

argued, for example, that a k

performing calculations, but i
communication with others is r
the model behind a given sym
This, for us, seems to provid
Vygotsky: such an approach a
consciously brought to bear on
theoretical understanding of w
Boundary crossing and thir
Williams & Wake, 2007a; Hahn
bring academic/theoretical prac
ing the two types of knowle
contrasting approaches (Bakke
The purpose of this paper i
unified understanding of math
In relation to the overview of t
the potential for scientific th
perspectives, or even the rece
may be frustrated in practice
b
similar to the ones encountere
are potential sites for scientif
structures in both are consciou
We illustrate these points, an
scientific concepts provides, b
ematics and vocational schoolin

3 Methodology

We choose to look at case stu

they are close to the boundary
(darts players) or just inside (
special, in that they provide v
tional and school mathematic
corrective, in order to estab
workplace activity in a traditio
of this case are to be found in
The motivation for the two m
where interesting things may
Darts players provide an inte
generally modest academic at
simple everyday arithmetic, w
geous. Similarly, a case of a
1997) mathematics classroom w
themselves added an additional
of concrete - but imagined - v
Both studies adopted an ethnog
but without full immersion o
practice and tournaments and i

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Making abstract mathematics concrete in and out of school 1 97

observation and regarding their wider practice. Autobiographies of professio

and online discussion forums for players, also provided useful material and c
the adult student, would-be teachers were recorded during their classes and i
with their tutor, berth in relation to observations and otherwise. All other rele
including artefacts, were also collected or recorded where possible.
Our general approach to knowledge is to take a totality perspective (see L
believe that integrating analyses across diverse case studies can, at time
beyond the inherent limitations of more partial viewpoints and can also help
ised theory to the appropriate stress of demanding cases.

4 Calculating at the oche: darts in leisure and work

Darts is a game where players stand at the oche (a line marked 2.369 m from
dartboard, measured horizontally) and throw small sharp sticks called darts
has been carefully segmented into sections worth different points (see Fig. 1). H
game became popular in working class clubs and pubs, but recently, with
deals, the game has become seriously competitive and professional.
The different radial sections of the dart board target score 1 to 20 points, do
of those numbers in the outer ring and inner ring respectively, and 25 and 50 fo
known as the bulíš eye. The most common form of the game involves each play
score of 501 and taking it in turns to throw three darts until one player reduc
exactly zero - but crucially ending on a dart that counts double; that is, going o
The game in fact offers excellent opportunities for practice with numbers in
However, the most interesting mathematics of the game occurs for players
minimal skill level as the end of the game approaches. Here, the aim shif
throwing at the section which that gives the highest points - typically, treb
complex strategy which that weighs up the most useful section to throw at that
easiest. For example, when a player gets down to a score of 67, they could g
treble 19 then double 5, say. But if they start with three darts, it would be bette
17 then double 8, because a narrow miss on treble 17 may score a single 17,
still have a double (the bulls eye counts as a double) to aim at. Or if, instead, th

Fig. 1 Dartboard layout: the

outer ring scores double, inner ring
treble and bulls eye 25 and 50

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 198 D. Swanson, J. Williams

but miss the double 8, hitting a

slim differences, a game and a
(a) the probability of hitting th
(such as a single when aiming fo
good double to end on - that
importantly, a number than ca
double 16 is likely to score sin
In our investigations, we foun
situated for players: the develop
of time as skill increases, is high
involves apprenticeship in the so
players reported little or no mem
up" being a common account. Fu
outs table that players can down
However, despite the classically
people, there are two key way
through engagement and interes
could perhaps be termed intrins
the real world, this term nev
motivation : the interest to get
motivates genuinely theoretical,
It is also often associated wit
illustrates in his autobiography

At school I was always good at

School when I took the 1 1 plu
working out different permuta

170 tío Tao am ua Tao ru oao im tao su oao se Tie Die

169 NO 3 DART OUT 141 T20 Tt9 D12 113 T19 SÎ6 D20 85 TIS D20
168 NO 3 DART OUT 140 T20 T16 D16 112 T20 S20 D16 84 T20 D12
167 T20 T19 DB 139 T2Ü T13 D20 111 T19 S14 D20 83 T17 D16
166 NO 3 QAKT OUT 138 T20 T18 D12 HO T20 S18 D16 82 T14 D20
165 Mo 3 Dawt out 137 T20 TIS D16 109 T20 S17 D16 81 T19 D12
164 T20 T18 DB 136 T20 T20 D8 108 T20 S16 D16 80 T16 D16
163 No 3 Dart cxrr 135 T20 TI7 D12 107 T20 S15 D16 79 T13 D20
162 NO 3 Dart our 134 T20 T14 D16 106 T20 S14 D16 78 T18 D12
161 T20 T17 DB 133 T20 T19 D8 105 T19 S16 D16 77 TIS D16
160 T20 T20 D20 132 T20 D20 D16 104 T20 S12 Dt6 76 T20 D8
159 NO 3 Dart out 131 T20 T13 D16 103 T2Ö SII D16 75 T17 D12
198 T20 T20 D19 130 T20 T18 D8 102 T20 S10 D16 74 T14 D16
157 T20 T19 O20 129 T19 D20 D16 101 T19 S'Z D16 73 T19 DB
156 T20 T20 D18 128 T20 D18 DI6 100 T20 D20 72 D20 D16
155 T2Ö T19 D19 127 T19 D19 D16 99 T19 SIO D?6 71 T13 D16
154 T20 T18 D20 126 T20 D17 D16 98 T20 D19 70 T18 D8
153 T20 T19 D18 125 TI9 D18 D16 97 T19 D20 69 TIS D12
152 T20 T20 D16 124 T18 T18 D8 96 T20 D18 68 D18 D16
151 T20 T17 D20 123 T19 D17 D16 95 T20 S3 D16 67 T17 D6
150 T20 T18 D18 122 T20 DIS D16 94 T18 D20 66 D17 D16
149 T20 T19 D16 121 T19 T16 D8 93 T19 SA D16 65 T11 D16
148 T18 T18 D20 120 T20 S20 D20 92 T20 D16 64 T16 D8
147 T20 T17 D18 119 T19 D15 D16 91 T17 D20 63 T13 D12
146 T20 T18 D16 118 T20 S18 D20 90 T18 D18 62 D15 D16
145 T20 TIS D20 117 T20 SÍ7 D20 89 T19 D16 61 TIS D6
144 T20 T20 D12 116 T20 S20 D18 88 T16 D20
143 T20 T17 Dt6 IIS T19 S18 D20 87 TÎ7 D18

Fig. 2 A typical outs chart showing o

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Making abstract mathematics concrete in and out of school 1 99

They let me leave [school] 6 months early, well before my sixteenth birthday
no point in staying: I wouldn't have passed my exams because I didn't do a
was just mad at school, nuts. I told the teachers I didn't need an education b
going to play darts, so that's why they signed me off for the last 6 months an
could go home. (Bristow, 2010, p. 22)

The second, and more likely, path for situated mathematics to devel
emergence of a need that cannot be satisfied in the old way. This is of
around a breakdown moment, whereby actions that have become autom
some way and thus become the subject of conscious attention (for a desc
in Leontiev's work, see Williams & Wake, 2007a; and a similar appr
Noss, & Hoyles, 1998). For example, one of the non-professional players
reported:

It were a bit scary, when I started playing in the leagues. I were only 1 8, and I realised once,
in a match, nobody's allowed to tell you which way you can go. You can only ask what's
left. So I remember once hitting a strange treble and I looked and I knew I wanted. . . I can't
remember the number, maybe it was 67 left, and I just didn't know which way to go for
that. . . and everybody is looking at me, and I just didn't know. . . and I just went, "Wow, I
don't know what to do now, I've got two darts left in me hand and I'll have to go for
something!".
I were keen, I just didn't want the embarrassment of not knowing what to throw for, so I
taught myself. I went to a lot of bother to find out simplest way to finish under 150. 1 had
to ask which way would you go for that and why, and then eventually I'd work my own
ways out. I thought, "No I'm better off doing that, because that leaves me treble 20 and
bull or treble 18 and bull".

Bobby George, a professional player, relates a similar tale in his autobiography:

'There's no way you can lose playing like that", Roy [his friend and fellow player] said.
What he didn't know, of course, was that I still couldn't count to save my life. I was faced
with a 90 out-shot to beat Roger and win the title but I didn't have a clue how to go about it.
'Treble 18, Bob", he shouted from the floor. Well, I hit treble 18 but my mind was still a
complete blank about what I should do next. Nerves sometimes make moments
like that even worse and I just stood at the oche bewildered, looking for help. .. It is no
wonder some of the older players despaired of me. I admit it was a bloody ridiculous state
of affairs.

Deep down I knew I had to rely on myself to progress. Another Essex player, Glen
Lazero, and I worked out each and every possible permutation... My game improved
almost overnight. I saw how trebles and singles that sit next to each other on the board
can work in your favour. . . I was never any good at mathematics at school but I found
that darts is more about remembering numbers and combinations. I had to crack this and
it took some time. . . To this day, I don't do any form of arithmetic when I play darts. I
just know how all the numbers work... Working out all those combinations gave me
confidence. (George, 2007, p. 55)

As can be seen in both cases, deliberate attempts to memorise can play a role in such
processes, and, from the outside, the end result may be indistinguishable from that of being
simply memorised (see Vygotsky, 1978, p. 64). But, again in both cases, breakdown moments
have led to a move beyond the situated, to an active working out involving systematic
mathematical work. In this conscious process, systemic relationships (of the number system,

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 200 D. Swanson, J. Williams

the layout of the board and rul

experience and everyday conc

I have always liked 1 21 as an o

to hit it. Just think about it.
there is one large treble taiget
you treble 19 and double 11.
leaves you treble 20, bull, an
too many options in darts. (G

Whereas the growth of ma

stages appears gradual and
seriously competitive (wheth
little difference), there com
and the mathematics must
achieve a high level of comp
Even at this point, a player
answer (see Fig. 2). But grow
include all potential combi
player, e.g., some prefer to a
moment that the mathem
investigation of the type lik
or school. We hypothesise tha
almost all leisure and workplac
conceptualisation in practice in
work has been done, the know
memory as their personal outs
The experience of mathem
leisure meets professional
develop the darts expertise
player or a professional and
identical in both cases, but
outside school and in work,
sionaldarts player is a rare p
player goes professional in t
they are rather unlike those
employees. We suspect that
than as a vocation (in the se
engage in such processes of
so motivated, the division of
some evidence of workplace
brate this case, we are awar
may rarely present itself as
of just such a workplace exa

S Mathematics in a hierarch

One of the main findings o

historically structure and hid

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Making abstract mathematics concrete in and out of school 201

processes tend to hide mathematics in artefacts and tools; second, the division
process in the workplace tends to produce knowledge boundaries inside th
institution. These two processes work together to reduce the mathematical de
labourer in general and to privilege the activity of some few workers whose s
related to their position of power/knowledge and also their competence (includi
ical competences).
Williams and Wake (2007a) provided details of one professional engineer in a
plant, whom we called "Dan," whose status as the expert in charge of the spreadsh
was maintained by a division of labour in which those operatives below him were
access to the meaning of these formulae: their own work was reduced to read
filling in record sheets that supplied Dan with the data needed to predict the plan
tion of power. On the other hand, there are also boundaries around managemen
sometimes cut off, or black-boxed, from the knowledge of what is going on lowe
industrial hierarchy. Such a division of labour appears to work - as long as
obvious breakdowns. But when breakdowns occur, suddenly the need to cro
requires the black boxes to be opened and the automated mathematics to be re-v
is quite often non-trivial (Williams & Wake, 2007b; see also Noss et al., 2002
However, the power relations and competition within the workplace that
specialist to acquire special authority may not be functional at the broader, sy
they tend to encourage a lack of transparency and a lack of openness. In ge
power relations imply a lack of equal sharing of knowledge in a common enterpri
normally be expected in a community of practice (Wenger, 1998). Upon
Dan's spreadsheets and recording instruments seemed to the outsider resea
unhelpfully opaque. In general, Williams and Wake (2007a, b) found that
workplace are often idiosyncratically designed, as there seems to be less m
produce clarity of expression than one might expect (cf. non-exper
computer manual).
Finally, we can reflect that workplaces are not so very different from scho
mathematics. Based on cases such as Dan's, the operator classes are given
unchallenging mechanical tasks to do, while only those who are more privileg
to be given work that is challenging and highly valued (see Braverman, 1998). I
add to this evidence even from ethnographies of industrial scientific pr
studies by Latour and many others have shown how power and politics are en
construction of science and scientific knowledge due to competitive divisions of la
& Woolgar, 1986).
From our reading of the literature, we conclude that workplaces are often far fr
places of authentic learning and that vocational mathematics is often structured
relations associated with a classed division of labour in ways that may be aliena
workers, or would-be workers. The exigencies of practice in the workpla
workers off from thinking and communicating mathematically, and the
developing the sort of scientific conceptualisations that Vygotskian theor
However, there is the parallel point that school is also sometimes - perhaps as o
alienating for the majority of students, but for opposite reasons. Th
concepts of mathematics are, at least potentially, present, but aspiring workers m
engaged in a productive, motivating practice, other than passing - or failing to pas
tests.

We will now consider a case in which some scientific mathematical work aros
authentically, in schooling. Our intention here is to complicate this story of th
workers and students from mathematics.

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 202 D. Swanson, J. Williams

6 Would-be teachers troubled

As discussed earlier, academic a

However, we would also agree th
professional practice to mathe
school - and institutionally - s
situated formalism involving tra
repetition of atomised process s
tionist approaches (Askew et al.
within mathematics, connection
of dialogue in meaningful prob
seemed to support a move from
scientific. We do this by lookin
provided for potential teachers o
That the mathematics required
mathematics may seem incongrue
as situated must be assumed to
recognised within the teacher ed
is seen as "a kind of professional
other mathematically intensiv
carpentry" (Ball, Hill, & Bass, 2
for clarity of communication, a
This leads, for instance, to the ne
difficulties, misconceptions and
programmer of a computer ope
dangers of extremely cold weat
shuttle disaster in 1986) or in the
an ever-present bottom line of f
and even functionality.

6. 1 Mathematics Enhancement Courses

Mathematics Enhancement Courses (MEC) are aimed at adults in the UK who wish to
progress onto a secondary mathematics, pre-service Initial Teacher Training pathway, but
who have been judged to have insufficient or insufficiently recent mathematical qualifications.
The courses vary in length and pattern of attendance, depending on the previous mathematical
experience of the students (in the case below this was 5 days per week for 36 weeks). The
students primarily learn mathematics, but the courses can also include some classes on wider
aspects of education and forms of teaching practice activities, with some limited contact with
schools. Courses are funded by the UK Training and Development Agency for Schools, and
thus there are no fees and a relatively reasonable weekly bursary which attracts students from a
wide range of previous backgrounds.
The government specification for MEC stresses "connectedness as against fragmentation"
and "deep and broad understanding of concepts, as against surface procedural knowledge"
(Stevenson, 2008, p. 103). Beyond this, there are fewer curriculum and assessment constraints
for individual institutions than when they provide more traditional prevocational mathematical
qualifications. This may allow a space for teachers to teach in a less regulated way and,
through this, to provide alternative instructional practices. It is also relevant that the tutor in
this case was an experienced mathematics teacher, educator and researcher whose beliefs are

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Making abstract mathematics concrete in and out of school 203

consistent with connectionism. We now turn to a study of one instruct

relation to the wider issues of this article.

6.2 A case of fractions: troubling the theoretical concept in practice

The students, in this and a previous class, had been exploring the early Egy
dealing with fractions, primarily through investigative and discursive problem
The issue of addition of fractions arose in this context and, in particular, the fract
1/3=5/6. A student raised a common error, suggesting that 1/2+1/3=2/5. This m
to arise from an overemphasis on procedure at the expense of theoretical under
be related to treating the form of fraction multiplication as analogous to addit
added to numerator and denominator added to denominator. The MEC tutor saw
in this discussion and raised the possibility of a pupil having, instead, based the
experience with test results. If, say, they had been given "one out of two" for the
test, and "one out of three" for a second question, how much would they have s
Two out of five (or two fifths or 40 %) would be regarded as the correct answe
This led to some audible confusion among the students as they realised tha
yet went against their normal understanding of how fractions work. The tutor
to discuss the problem in their different groups. The setting up of a contradic
students' conceptualisation (or the drawing to attention of a misconception
strategy, commonly used by the tutor as an aid to concept development.
Already in this situation, we can see some interesting combinations. We h
and vocation - the students are learning mathematics but are doing so in a con
teachers themselves at some point. Often, within the MEC class we studied,
is implicit as the students go about their mathematical activity, but when
becomes explicit, as it does in the dialogue that follows, it does so naturally, an
a sense that the class is now engaged in a different type of activity.
Our example contains both school mathematics and vocational mathemati
formal rules of addition of fractions, yet the class is also addressing the wa
represented as fractions in class. Furthermore, this example engages with a
mathematics for teaching, the understanding of misconceptions and how
potentially respond. Finally, we also have formal, situated mathematics, alo
potentially, a deeper conceptual understanding of the mathematics involve
practices. Following Roth (2012), we could ask the question: Where are
between these aspects if they are all present in the classroom, potential
However, we (perhaps contra-Roth) would resist the idea that the subjective
key unit of analysis for the unifying of the various factors in such cases. Man
activity bring these elements together, including, here, the instructiona
Although it is more obvious in this MEC case, we would argue that this is tr
in more general school/vocational cases (e.g., through the mathematics c
classroom tools; see Williams & Goos, 2013).
Returning to the problem before the class, the contradiction - that a half pl
five sixths, yet, one out of two and one out of three, combined in a test,
five - is recognisably a question of modelling, but also, conceptually, of un
which has been well explored (see, e.g., Lamon, 1996). However, as the conce
could easily remain at a formal level, our own preferred understanding is one
to the real world and a meta-understanding of what mathematical theory is. O
would be as follows: mathematics is a modelling practice which abstracts from
regularities of real, practical experience in the world. The fractions (and, m

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 204 D. Swanson, J. Williams

numbers) that we use arose fro

fractions and numbers of som
Schmittau, (2003), on the relat
culture, we have reified this pr
add 2 to 3 to get 5, or teach th
other than the symbolic manipu
most real practices, such numb
when adding, the added numbers
(even in group or ring theory),
the same thing equals 5/6 of the
the contested example above, w
which is also, in this context, tr
In the MEC class, we recorded
of the problem was followed by

7 Beth [Attempted explanation:] Bec

only half of your two possible ma
8 Dora It is a half though
9 Beth . . .But it's not a half of the
10 Elise Yeah. The five questions ar
1 1 Beth There are five questions
12 Dora But this is like one over five
1 3 Elise Oh that's just confusing. A ha
half?

We find this dialogue fascinating for many reasons. Beth, at line 7, already seems to have a
concrete form of the conceptualisation we suggested above, although it includes a dismissal of
"one out of two" as not being a "real" half. This reflects the formalism that students can bring
with them when they first enter a path toward teaching. The generalised concept of unitisation
is not explicitly expressed here, and Dora can counter the explanation with the obvious, "it is a
half though". Yet Dora too, in line 12, can express a concrete form of the solution. Elise then
asks a pertinent question - one that begs to be mathematised with multiple units.
This generalisation doesn't materialise in dialogue here, though, and the discussion is
inconclusive; there is a pause and then a slight reformulation of the initial disagreement occurs:

22 Beth Yeah, it's, sorry, it is two over five but it's not half
23 Dora But then they will say, "ok so. . ."
24 Beth Yeah it is two over five but it's not half plus a third is it.
25 Dora No... no but...
26 Beth 'Cause then you start looking at it going. . .
27 Dora I'm looking at it and thinking yeah. . .
28 Beth It's right
29 Dora I agree [laughs]
[pause]

What is important for us here in this continuing to-and-fro between the formal and the
contradictory concrete example is the line, "But then they will say". The "they" here refers to

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Making abstract mathematics concreto in and out of school 205

the idealised future students, the ones initially referenced by the tutor, who h
MEC students' own expressions of doubt, and of needing to be convince
argument. Potential student teachers of mathematics often come with
transmissionist classrooms and a model of the teacher as expert, one who
explain to others, and therefore one whose efficacy depends precisely on bei
only to themselves (and it is perhaps in this sense that teachers will often s
understood this concept until I had to prepare myself to teach it"). Here, w
imagined future demand sustains the dialogue beyond the point where the p
otherwise have been motivated. The dialogue continues with Dora's refer
papers: They will see, in which each page of the test has a box for the mark
page written as a fraction, the kids will see these boxes and know that they add
in just this way to get their total score:

30 Dora It's just that if you tell them to add them together. Of that one I get one and that on
how those test papers arc, do you remember? There's a box, usually, that docs say t
if you tell them to look at those as fractions. I never thought of that.
3 1 Beth Who would look at that?
32 Dora Kids will...

33 Beth Will they? Really?

34 Anna But you do. You'll get your result as a fraction, your teacher will write it as a fraction.

The conversation continues, retracing the previous argument about the fractional
being different units:

41 Anna Sec what I mean it's not proportional.

42 Beth [very quickly] Yeah that's not half the marks for the whole test, that's half out of those two que
43 Dora Yeah, and that would be the difference
44 Beth But it's actually quite a hard concept to explain why it doesn't work, but you see easy why
fifths [pause]

The students here seem almost to have produced a satisfactory aigument, that is, in a form
that almost convinces them, but there remains an awareness that the concept is still not in an
explicit form that resolves the contradiction adequately. The idea is still considered hard, and
so perhaps too hard for them. There is a sense here of an ambiguity of meaning in the words
they or them : the students as both learners (finding this argument hard to put together) and as
imagined teachers (whose learners will expect them to be able to explain simply and clearly).
This puts new heightened demands on their own learning, as they are learning, ultimately, to
teach, which implies the argument must be better than almost persuasive.
An essentially transmissionist view of teaching, one based on the centrality of explaining,
has here mediated students' awareness of a vocational form of mathematics required for
teaching. At the same time, despite this transmissionist outlook, this orientation has affected
their own learning, motivating them towards gaining a perhaps deeper understanding of the
mathematical concepts involved.
What do we mean here by a deep understanding? We argue that this is precisely the
dialectical synthesis of the systemic, theoretical mathematics of fractions with the concrete
practice of teaching or explicit explaining as required for teaching. We argue that the discourse
above shows these students as struggling to achieve this. The fact that this synthesis is perhaps
not fully or adequately achieved is clear in their finishing in some doubt. The articulation of

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 206 D. Swanson, J. Williams

our own understanding preced

deep understanding that teachin
The school work of these woul
First, it is characterised as schoo
a qualification from the MEC to
learn/acquire sufficient mathe
teacher-training course, they wi
will enter classrooms and pra
employed). Thus, these would-b
one can get while still being
work/profession. What we find
in role as imaginary, would-be
subject even while they are learn
for their learning activity, and i
not yet practising their vocatio
matics became embedded in th
Martinez, Davis, & Wake, 2010).
other, activity is made real in
situated intuition of purchasin
(see Williams, Linchevski, & K

7 Conclusion

Our aim has been to show how Vygotskian perspectives can help us to see how genuine
scientific activity can arise, whether in school, work, or vocational mathematics education. In
each of these cases, we have also suggested how such activity can be frustrated by institutional
structures and how such structures might alienate learners and workers from scientific activity
and thought. Mathematics can be ritualised and even fossilised in practices in both vocational
and academic contexts. It was suggested that this arises from the embedding and automisation
of mathematics in artefacts and operational procedures in production (and schooling) systems
and that these evolve historically in systems with divisions of labour that black-box mathe-
matics socially, as well as materially.
But we have also seen in case studies how this fossilisation of mathematics in practice can
break down too and lead to activity of a mathematically scientific nature in Vygotsky's sense.
In our perspective, mathematical authenticity is visible when the abstract "rises to the
concrete" (Marx, 1973, p. 101). That is, formal theoretical-mathematical concepts are made
concrete in practice by learners or workers solving concrete tasks, in meaningful social
practices - whether in school or in workplaces.
A caveat: we allow that the activity of the university academic, for example, in ring theory
is a practice and that proving new theorems is one socially meaningful, concrete product of
mathematics. In the same way, we can have no problem with school children or construction
workers being engaged in problem solving of a genuinely mathematical nature, as well as
mathematics that enhances their scientific understandings of practices in the rest of life. We
emphasise that it is the rules of the institutions (whether work or school) that may prevent
workers and students from engaging in such activity. Why so?
In both cases, it seems the object of the institutional activity may conflict with genuinely
useful and functional scientific learning with mathematics. In workplaces, the worker may be
told, "It is not your job to think (about the O-rings), we have managers who will decide

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Making abstract mathematics concrete in and out of school 207

(whether the space shuttle Challenger flies);" while, in school, students ma

mind why (minus times minus is plus), this is how to get the answer and pa
As researchers, we conveniently chose a workplace case study of the darts pl
knowledge seemed less alienating as the work was close to fun. But we a
chose an academic environment in which students were professionally mot
standing mathematics for teaching. Perhaps these are the exceptions, where
understanding and having to explain the mathematics becomes a priority,
mathematics straight is crucial to being a top darts player. But we convenientl
the point: that the dialectical opposition and synthesis of the systemic a
concrete is what makes the difference in making mathematics scientific, whet
school or in work/leisure. In both cases, those involved were motivated to d
In conclusion, we would suggest that there are valuable forms of though
never unsituated , do go beyond the situated to become scientific, in Vygo
conscious, mutually mediating systemic synthesis of the abstract and concre
reverse the gains of situated cognition and devalue the most-of-the-time eve
"just plain folks" (Lave, 1 988), which we still hold as essential sources of scie
does, however, involve critiquing the institutionalised, situated formalism of m
schooling, where test-taking rituals have sometimes substituted for scientif
institutional critique can, in many cases, be extended to the workplace.
workplaces are contested arenas. If, at the moment, schools are far from id
scientific conceptual learning, workplaces are also often far from being idea
can be expressed, or even developed. We believe it would aid the vocation
literature to relate these two understandings more directly.

Acknowledgments David Swanson would like to acknowledge that this work was suppo
Economic and Social Research Council [grant number ES/J500094/1].

Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attrib
permits any use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors
credited.

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