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Communication Dans Un Congrès Année : 2016

The development of mathematics education as seen in mathematics education controversies in Japan

Résumé

It can be said that mathematics education in Japan was started in 1872 when the school system was established. Since that establishment era, controversies have emerged time and again in mathematics education in Japan. Through these controversies, debates have been held on views on mathematics education such as how mathematics ought to be taught and what constitutes knowledge concerning numbers, quantities, and shapes that is desirable for students to acquire. In this paper, I shall look back at how views on mathematics education in Japan have developed since the Meiji era from the perspective of such controversies on mathematics education.

As the controversies on mathematics education, the four phases are picked up. The first is Theoretical Mathematics and the Enumeration Principle. The second is Controversy over Formal Building. The third is Conventional Teaching of Mathematics and the Creation of Mathematics. The forth is Relationship between Daily Life and Mathematics.

With regard to the conflict between theoretical arithmetic and the enumeration principle, debates were held over which policy to adopt in the process of editing the first government–designated textbook which was published in 1905. The conflict was ultimately settled when it was decided that the enumeration principle would be adopted. Attention must be paid to the fact that this conflict was taking place in an era when it was questioned what constitutes mathematics education in introducing the modern education system in Japan.

In the controversy over formal building in 1920's, both the opponents and proponents based their arguments on overseas theories and survey results. The controversy was not settled in the form of one view being adopted while the other view was discarded in the education policy and the editorial policy concerning government-designated textbooks. Regarding formal building, assertions regarding the objectives of mathematics education and what is desirable for children to acquire are at the basis of the arguments. The arguments against formal discipline served as criticism against teachers who taught mathematics as a conventional discipline in school and became stepping stones toward improvements.

Affected by mathematics education reform movements in Europe and the US, mathematics education in Japan progressed gradually. In such a movement, the Ministry of Education drastically reconstructed mathematics education ranging from the objectives of teaching to the contents of teaching and the methods of teaching. This movement culminated in the revision of the syllabus of teaching for secondary schools and the compilation of authorized textbooks.

After the World War II, the mathematics curriculum in Japan reflected the criticism against pre-war mathematics education, which overly emphasized teaching mathematics as a discipline and did not correspond with the children's real learning conditions. These initiatives of empiricist mathematics education came under criticism. The strongest point of the criticism was the falling of children's academic standards. Therefore, a systematic subject-based curriculum was adopted instead of a curriculum based on the empirical principle.

 

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Dates et versions

hal-01349246 , version 1 (27-07-2016)

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  • HAL Id : hal-01349246 , version 1

Citer

Naomichi Makinae. The development of mathematics education as seen in mathematics education controversies in Japan. History and Pedagogy of Mathematics, Jul 2016, Montpellier, France. ⟨hal-01349246⟩

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