for the learning of mathematics

an international journal of mathematics education

Yusuke Uegatani ,  Hiroki Otani - Vol. 43 Num. 3 (2023)
 An inferentialist view of notions and concepts

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 ABSTRACT:

This paper aims to reveal the potential of inferentialism, an emerging philosophy in mathematics education, to extend contemporary constructivist research regarding conceptual development. Going against the traditional view of a notion as the name of a corresponding concept and a constructivist way of naming second-order models, we provide a new view of the process of conceptual learning: Notions appear first, followed by concepts, which generate the next sentence. Arguing that learning is not an input—but rather an output—in a social environment, we, like constructivists, place value on learners’ creativity and potential to go beyond socially regulated knowledge.