Toward a Visually-Oriented

School Mathematics
Curriculum
 Mathematics Education Library
VOLUME 49

Managing Editor
A.J. Bishop, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

Editorial Board
M.G. Bartolini Bussi, Modena, Italy
J.P. Becker, Illinois, U.S.A.
M. Borba, Rio Claro, Brazil
B. Kaur, Singapore
C. Keitel, Berlin, Germany
G. Leder, Melbourne, Australia
F. Leung, Hong Kong, China
D. Pimm, Edmonton, Canada
K. Ruthven, Cambridge, United Kingdom
A. Sfard, Haifa, Israel
Y. Shimizu, Tennodai, Japan
O. Skovsmose, Aalborg, Denmark

For further volumes:

http://www.springer.com/series/6276
Ferdinand D. Rivera

Toward a Visually-Oriented
School Mathematics
Curriculum
Research, Theory, Practice, and Issues

123
Dr. Ferdinand D. Rivera
San Jose State University
Department of Mathematics
1 Washington Square
San Jose California 95192
USA
rivera@math.sjsu.edu

Series Editor:
Alan J. Bishop
Monash University
Melbourne 3800
Australia
Alan.Bishop@Education.monash.edu.au

ISBN 978-94-007-0013-0 e-ISBN 978-94-007-0014-7

DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-0014-7
Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York

Library of Congress Control Number: 2010937858

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Seeking the earliest use of the concept of logos, Detienne . . .
proposes that “on the one hand, logos was seen as an
instrument of social relations. . . . Rhetoric and sophistry began
to develop the grammatical and stylistic analysis of techniques
of persuasion. Meanwhile, the other path, explored by
philosophy led to reflections on logos as a means of knowing
reality: is speech all of reality? If so, what about the reality
expressed by numbers?” (Detienne, 1996, p. 17). If the question
were posed today, “How can knowledge be verbalized?” no one
would disagree that it is through logos, the word, whether
spoken or written. But what if we pose the question differently
and ask, “How can knowledge be visualized?”
(Bier, 2006, p. 270)

The dialectic of word and image seems to be a constant in the

fabric of signs that a culture weaves around itself. What varies
is the precise nature of the weave, the relation of warp to woof.
The history of culture is in part the story of a protracted struggle
for dominance between pictorial and linguistic signs, each
claiming for itself proprietary rights on a “nature” to which
only it has access.
(Mitchell, 1984, p. 529)

The unity of perception and conception . . . suggests that

intelligent understanding takes place within the realm of the
image itself, but only if it is shaped in such a way as to interpret
the relevant features visually. . . .. Visual education must be
based on the premise that every picture is a statement. The
picture does not present the object itself but a set of propositions
about the object.
(Arnheim, 1971, p. 308)
Contents

1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
1 Purposeful Tourism . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.1 Psychological Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2 Curriculum/Instruction Dimension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.3 Technological and Semiotic Dimensions . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2 A Traveling Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1 Exploring Implications of Purposeful Tourism . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2 Exploring Implications of Instrumental Genesis . . . . . . . . 11
2.3 Exploring Implications of O’Halloran’s Grammar
of Mathematical Visual Images . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
3 Overview of Chapter 2 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
4 A Note on Participants in My 4-Year Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
2 Visualization and Progressive Schematization: Framing the Issues . 21
1 Nature of Cognitive Activity and Cognitive Action . . . . . . . . . 22
2 Basic Elements and Tensions in a Visually Oriented School
Mathematics Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
3 General Notion of Visualization in this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4 The Meaning of Representation in this Book . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
5 Three Fundamental Principles of Visualization . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
6 Context-Based Visual Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
7 Forms and Levels of Visual Representations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
8 Instructional Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
9 Overview of Chapter 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
3 Visual Roots of Mathematical Cognitive Activity . . . . . . . . . . . 59
1 Three Contexts of Visualizing Activity in Mathematics . . . . . . . 61
2 Explicit and Implicit Knowledge in Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . 70
3 Mathematical Objects in Cognitive Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
4 Mathematical Concepts in Cognitive Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
5 Visual Thinking in Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
6 Revisiting Principles of Visualization from a Mathematical
Point of View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
7 Overview of Chapter 4 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97

vii
viii Contents

4 Visual Roots of Mathematical Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99

1 Mathematical Symbols and Their Signs and Modes of Signification . 108
2 A Progressive Formal Account of Symbols: Focus
on School Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
3 Some Issues in Inter- and Intra-semiotic Transitions . . . . . . . . . 120
4 Development of Visuoalphanumeric Symbols in Pattern
Generalization Activity in a Middle School Classroom . . . . . . . 131
5 Overview of Chapter 5 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
5 Visuoalphanumeric Representations in Pattern
Generalization Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
1 Assumptions About Patterns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
2 Abductive Reasoning in Pattern Generalization Activity . . . . . . . 154
3 Entry-Level Abductions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
4 Mature Abductions: Visual Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
5 Situational Discords in Visual Templates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185
6 Structured Visual Thinking in Transformational Activity . . . . . . 193
7 Overview of Chapter 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
6 Visual Thinking and Diagrammatic Reasoning . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
1 Psychophysical and Cognitive Perspectives on Diagrams . . . . . . 208
2 Three Basic Issues with Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 215
3 Diagram Types and Progressive Diagrammatization . . . . . . . . . 228
4 Extending DR Beyond Establishing Regularities
and Constructing Mathematical Knowledge: Supporting
Growth in Mathematical Reasoning Through DR . . . . . . . . . . 234
5 Overview of Chapter 7 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 239
7 Cultural and Blind-Specific Issues and Implications to Visual
Thinking in Mathematics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
1 Cultural Preferences Relative to Visual Attention
and the Construction of Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
2 Sociocultural Influences in Seeing and Imaging
from a Mathematical Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 247
3 Materialist Versus Formalist Views on Mathematical
Objects, Concepts, and Processes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
4 Cultural Views on What Constitutes a Mathematical Proof . . . . . 253
5 The Role of Artifacts and Visual Language in Early
Mathematical Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
6 Multisensory Convergence on Imagery Tasks in Totally
and Partially Blind Subjects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
7 Benefits of Visual Representations: Three Lessons
from Blind Studies and Implications for Sighted Learners . . . . . . 261
8 Models and Implications of Multisensory Learning . . . . . . . . . 264
9 Overview of Chapter 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268
Contents ix

8 Instructional Implications: Toward Visual Thinking in Mathematics 269

1 Some Final Thoughts on Visualization for Mathematics Education . 272
2 Signifying Intersecting Circles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
3 Past the Iconic and the Indexical: The Symbolic Mediated
Nature of Visual Thinking in Mathematics (a Stronger Version) . . . 278
4 Visual Presence and Seeing in the Referential Phase . . . . . . . . . 278
5 A Circling Ascent to the Operative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280
6 The Operative Content Phase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282
7 The Pleasure of Visual Forms in Mathematical Knowing . . . . . . 283
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287
Author Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305
Subject Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 311