We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
from II - School Mathematics and Its Consequences
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2014
This chapter begins the quest to seek the origins of mathematical thinking by asking the fundamental question:
How does a species like Homo sapiens learn to think mathematically?
In particular, how do young children build ideas about space and shape on the one hand and number on the other?
Mathematical thinking occurs within a biological brain that has evolved over the millennia to enable the human species to survive and prosper in the material world. The brain is not carefully designed like a computer. Francis Crick expressed this eloquently, saying:
Evolution is not a clean designer. … It builds, mainly in a series of smallish steps, on what was there before. It is opportunistic. If a new device works, in however odd a manner, evolution will try to promote it. This means that changes and improvements that can be added to the existing structures with relative ease are more likely to be selected, so the final design may not be a clean one, but rather a messy accumulation of interacting gadgets. Surprisingly, such a system often works better than a more straight-forward mechanism that is designed to do the job in a more direct manner.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
