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Mathematics Education in Brazil
Panorama of Current Research

Alessandro Jacques Ribeiro
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Lulu Healy
Rute Elizabete de Souza Rosa Borba
Solange Hassan Ahmad Ali Fernandes Editors
Mathematics
Education in
Brazil
Mathematics Education in Brazil
Lulu Healy
Rute Elizabete de Souza Rosa Borba
Solange Hassan Ahmad Ali Fernandes
Editors
Mathematics Education
in Brazil
Editors
Alessandro Jacques Ribeiro Lulu Healy
Center for Mathematics, Computing School of Education, Communication
and Cognition and Society
Federal University of ABC King’s College
Santo André, SP, Brazil London, UK
Rute Elizabete de Souza Rosa Borba Solange Hassan Ahmad Ali Fernandes
Graduate Program in Mathematics & Graduate Program in Mathematics
Technology Education Education
Federal University of Pernambuco Anhanguera University of São Paulo
Recife, PE, Brazil São Paulo, SP, Brazil
ISBN 978-3-319-93454-9 ISBN 978-3-319-93455-6 (eBook)

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93455-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018949607
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

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Preface
This book aims to present a panorama of research in mathematics education devel-

oped in Brazil to the international academic community. It is the result of a collabo-
ration of members of the Brazilian Society of Mathematics Education
(SBEM—Sociedade Brasileira de Educação Matemática).
Since its founding in January 1988, the Brazilian Society of Mathematics
Education (SBEM) has been organised to discuss issues related to teaching and
learning in mathematics, with a view to contributing to the consolidation of mathe-
matics education as an area of knowledge. Mathematics education in Brazil is still
relatively a new field of research, which arose initially from concerns that emerged
from the programme of expansion of mathematics teaching in the beginning of the
1950s. These concerns led to the first National Congress of Mathematics Teaching,
followed by the creation of what became known as the Circles of Mathematics
Teachers and the Brazilian Association of Mathematics Teachers and Researchers.
The creation of SBEM began to be structured in 1985, during the 6th Inter-
American Conference on Mathematics Education (VI CIAEM), held in Guadalajara,
Mexico, and the organisation came into being in its own right following the realisa-
tion of the first National Meeting of Mathematics Education (I ENEM) in the city of
São Paulo in 1987. From its conception, SBEM has played an important role in the
development of Brazilian mathematics education. As a scientific association, it
expanded its area of activity, with the creation of regional directories in almost all
states of the federation, and has been instrumental in the organisation of 12 National
Meetings, six International Seminars on Research in Mathematics Education
(SIPEM) and dozens of regional meetings. SBEM maintains two journals,
Mathematics Education in Journal (EMR) and the International Journal for
Research in Mathematics Education (RIPEM).
At the beginning of the twenty-first century, conscious of the growing number of
researchers in mathematics education across Brazil, together with the size and diver-
sity of the country, SBEM recognised a need to create mechanisms that would both
enable collaborations between researchers throughout Brazil to be built and sus-
tained and open channels through which to communicate the country’s ongoing
research concerns beyond its borders. This motivated the conception of what has
v
vi Preface
become a triannual event, the International Seminar of Research in Mathematics

(Seminário Internacional de Pesquisa em Educação Matemática—SIPEM), an event
which serves to congregate the Brazilian mathematics education research commu-
nity together with international collaborators and to simultaneously showcase,
review and plan national research efforts.
The first SIPEM took place in 2000. The aims of the seminar were (and continue to
be) fivefold: (1) to encourage exchange between local and regional groups, based in
different states of Brazil and in different countries and dedicated to researching the area
of mathematics education; (2) to disseminate Brazilian research to the community of
mathematics educators within and beyond Brazil; (3) to provide a forum for meetings
between researchers in mathematics education, opening possibilities to share, collabo-
rate and plan research; (4) to promote the formation of integrated Brazilian-based
research groups that work together on problems of national interest, with collaboration
from foreign researchers (5) to support advances in research in mathematics education.
Six editions of SIPEM have now taken place. A total of 319 registered research-
ers participated in SIPEM IV, where 169 scientific papers were presented and dis-
cussed. During the event, plenaries, lectures and panels were also conducted, a
number of new books related to the area of mathematics education were launched
and meetings for discussions of topics involving education were organised.
The organisation of the conference around the national working groups has proved
successful in forging research collaborations around particular themes. Members of
the groups have worked both at and between the events on a variety of joint projects,
including the organisation of books and special editions of research journals. Not
surprisingly, in great part, these projects and the outcomes associated with them have
been disseminated more widely within Brazil than beyond, not least because they
have tended to be published in Portuguese. The idea of publishing a book aimed more
specifically at the international community emerged during SIPEM VI. This book is
a result of the discussions that began there, and its main focus is on the research of
the 13 national working groups of the SBEM that participated in SIPEM VI.
These working groups are organised around the following themes: Mathematics
Education in the Early Years and Primary Education (Y1–Y5); Mathematics
Education in the Middle School (Y6–Y9); Mathematics Education in the High School
(Y10–Y12); Mathematics Education at the University Level; History of Mathematics,
Culture and Mathematics Education; Digital Technologies and Distance Education;
Teacher Education; Assessment and Mathematics Education; Cognitive and Linguistic
Processes in Mathematics Education; Mathematical Modelling; Philosophy of
Mathematics Education; Teaching Probability and Statistics; and Difference,
Inclusion and Mathematics Education. Twelve of these thirteen groups have partici-
pated in all the editions of SIPEM, while for the thirteenth group SIPEM VI occa-
sioned its first participation. The seminars are organised around the working groups,
with refereed papers forming the basis of the working group discussions during the
event and the planning of the joint research activities that occur in the interim years
between seminars. In this way, the papers presented at the triennial research seminars
can be considered as a representative sample of the concerns of the Brazilian mathe-
matics education community at a particular moment in time.
Preface vii
The 6th International Seminar of Research in Mathematics Education (SIPEM

VI) took place from the 15th to the 19th of November 2015, and the contributions
presented at this event provide the means we have chosen in this book to reflect upon
the current concerns of the Brazilian mathematics education community and how
the themes addressed within the national working groups have developed over time.
The book contains a total of 14 chapters. Following an invited chapter from Professor
Ubiratan D’Ambrósio, an internationally renowned researcher in the field and a
founding member of the Brazilian Mathematics Education community, are chapters
corresponding to each of the 13 working groups who met during SIPEM VI.
In his chapter, D’Ambrosio discusses how mathematics education—in Brazil
and other parts of the world—should be thought in a new way, i.e. centred on
humanity. He defends the idea that mathematics, which he sees as the most univer-
sal mode of thought, is intrinsically related to the future of humankind, and thus,
mathematicians and mathematics educators are responsible for developing concepts
and techniques that contribute to the survival, rather than destruction, of civilisation.
Mathematics, he says, should enable, not endanger, the pursuit of human well-being
and full citizenship, as well as offering means for understanding, explaining and
transforming reality. It is fitting that most of the challenges posed in D’Ambrosio’s
chapter resurface in the remaining 13 chapters of the book in forms that are specific
to the different areas of interest that currently characterise the field of mathematics
education in Brazil. Indeed, tracing the ideas he raises through the rest of the book
is one of the ways that readers might gain a sense of some of the characteristic fla-
vours of Brazilian research, as well as the ways in which these flavourings vary in
their intensity, impact and amplitude.
The chapters prepared by members of the 13 SBEM working group have a simi-
lar structure, with each chapter emphasising the major themes and research ques-
tions, theoretical and methodological approaches and emerging results, along with
considerations of the tensions and issues that characterise research in the particular
area of interest. In this way, the aim is that the book presents a panorama of research
in the area of mathematics education in Brazil at a particular moment in time. Its
chapters reflect the diversity of research themes of the national working groups,
contemplating questions related to the teaching and learning of mathematics at all
education levels—from early years to university mathematics—and encompassing
issues of history, philosophy, language and cognition, digital technology, inclusion,
assessment, teacher education, mathematical modelling and statistics education. We
hope that the book will convey not only a sense of some of the special flavours of
Brazilian research in mathematics education, but also the vibrancy and dynamism
of our community, as a well as offering an overview of recent research tendencies
and results from research programmes, much of which was previously available
only in Portuguese.
Santo André, SP, Brazil Alessandro Jacques Ribeiro

London, UK Lulu Healy
Recife, PE, Brazil Rute Elizabete de Souza Rosa Borba
São Paulo, SP, Brazil Solange Hassan Ahmad Ali Fernandes
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge and thank all those who have contributed to make
this book possible.
First of all, we are indebted to the Brazilian Society of Mathematics Education
(SBEM—Sociedade Brasileira de Educação Matemática) for its support at each
stage of the book’s development, from conception to completion. We reserve special
mention for the current and previous members and Executive Board of SBEM
(Diretoria Nacional Executiva—DNE) who have contributed to the consolidation of
the International Seminar for Research in Mathematics Education (Seminário
Internacional de Pesquisa em Educação Matemática—SIPEM) and to the strength-
ening of the working groups that compose the triannual events and work in the years
between the seminars.
We would also like to thank the members of the working groups who accepted
the challenge of writing the chapters that appear in the book, as well as the critical
readers who kindly read different versions of the chapters and suggested essential
changes.
Finally, we are grateful to all the associates of SBEM for extending to us their
trust and confidence in the realisation of this project.
ix
Contents
1 To Think in a New Way in Mathematics Education �� 1

Ubiratan D’Ambrosio
2 1, 2: What Did We Do? 3, 4: Let’s Learn Some More! Research
on Early Schooling Mathematics Education in Brazil�� 21
Rute Borba, Gilda Guimarães, Edda Curi, and Cristiano Muniz
3 Research on Mathematics Education in Middle School in Brazil �� 47
Claudia Lisete Oliveira Groenwald, Carmen Teresa Kaiber,
and Silvia Dias Alcântara Machado
4 Brazilian Mathematics Education in High School�� 59
Célia Maria Carolino Pires, Elenilton Vieira Godoy,
Marcio Antonio da Silva, and Vinício de Macedo Santos
5 Mathematics Education at University Level: Contributions
from Brazil�� 85
Barbara L. Bianchini, Lilian Nasser, Lourdes Onuchic,
and Sonia B. C. Igliori
6 History of Mathematics and Culture: Moments and Movements
in Brazilian Mathematics Education�� 103
Cristiane Coppe de Oliveira, Cláudia Regina Flores,
Daniel Clark Orey, and Maria Cristina Araújo de Oliveira
7 Digital Technologies and Mathematics Education:
Interlocutions and Contributions Based on Research
Developed in Brazil�� 129
Maurício Rosa, Marcelo Bairral, Verônica Gitirana,
and Marcelo Borba
xi
xii Contents
8 Mathematics Teacher Education: Synthesis and Perspectives

of Research Developed in Brazil �� 149
Adair Mendes Nacarato, Ana Cristina Ferreira,
Cármen Lúcia Brancaglion Passos,
and Márcia Cristina de Costa Trindade Cyrino
9 Assessment and Mathematics Education: Possibilities
and Challenges of Brazilian Research�� 171
Maria Isabel Ramalho Ortigão, João Ricardo Viola dos Santos,
and Jader Otávio Dalto
10 Cognitive and Linguistic Processes in Brazilian
Mathematics Education: Theoretical Considerations
and Educational Implications �� 193
Airton Carrião, Sintria Labres Lautert, and Alina Galvão Spinillo
11 Research on Mathematical Modelling in Mathematics
Education in Brazil: Overview and Considerations �� 211
Elizabeth Gomes Souza, Lourdes Maria Werle de Almeida,
and Tiago Emanuel Klüber
12 Philosophy of Mathematics Education: A Panorama
from Brazil�� 229
Maria Apaecida Viggiani Bicudo,
Renata Cristina Geromel Meneghetti,
Sônia Maria Clareto, and Tânia Baier
13 Every Citizen Needs to Know Statistics! What Are We Doing?
Brazilian Research in Statistics Education�� 249
Mauren Porciúncula, Suzi Samá, Cristiane de Arimatéa Rocha,
and José Ivanildo Felisberto de Carvalho
14 Difference, Inclusion and Mathematics Education in Brazil �� 265
Miriam Godoy Penteado, Fabiane Guimarães Vieira Marcondes,
Clélia Maria Ignatius Nogueira, and Leo Akio Yokoyama
Index�� 279
Contributors
Lourdes Maria Werle de Almeida Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina,

Brazil
Cristiane de Arimatéa Rocha Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife,
Brazil
Tânia Baier Universidade de Blumenau—FURB, Blumenau, Brazil
Marcelo Bairral Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, Seropédica, Brazil
Barbara L. Bianchini Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, São Paulo,
SP, Brazil
Maria Apaecida Viggiani Bicudo Universidade Estadual Paulista, Campus de
Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil
Marcelo Borba Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, Brazil
Rute Borba Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
Airton Carrião Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
José Ivanildo Felisberto de Carvalho Universidade Federal de Pernambuco,
Recife, Brazil
Sônia Maria Clareto Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de Fora, Brazil
Márcia Cristina de Costa Trindade Cyrino Universidade Estadual de Londrina,
Londrina, Brazil
Edda Curi Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul, São Paulo, Brazil
Ubiratan D’Ambrosio Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil
Universidade Anhanguera de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
xiii
xiv Contributors
Jader Otávio Dalto Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Cornélio

Procópio, Brazil
Solange Hassan Ahmad Ali Fernandes Anhanguera University of São Paulo, São
Paulo, SP, Brazil
Ana Cristina Ferreira Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, Brazil
Cláudia Regina Flores Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis,
SC, Brazil
Verônica Gitirana Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
Elenilton Vieira Godoy Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil
Claudia Lisete Oliveira Groenwald Universidade Luterana do Brasil, Canoas,
Brazil
Gilda Guimarães Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
Lulu Healy School of Education, Communication and Society, King’s College,
London, UK
Sonia B. C. Igliori Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP,
Brazil
Carmen Teresa Kaiber Universidade Luterana do Brasil, Canoas, Brazil
Tiago Emanuel Klüber Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná, Cascavel,
Brazil
Sintria Labres Lautert Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
Vinício de Macedo Santos University of São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Silvia Dias Alcântara Machado Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo,
São Paulo, Brazil
Fabiane Guimarães Vieira Marcondes Instituto Federal de São Paulo, São José
dos Campos, SP, Brazil
Renata Cristina Geromel Meneghetti Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo,
Brazil
Cristiano Muniz Universidade de Brasília, Brasília, Brazil
Adair Mendes Nacarato Universidade São Francisco, Itatiba, Brazil
Lilian Nasser Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
Clélia Maria Ignatius Nogueira Universidade Estadual do Oeste do Paraná e
Universidade Estadual de Maringá, Cascavel, Maringá, PR, Brazil
Cristiane Coppe de Oliveira Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia,
MG, Brazil
Contributors xv
Maria Cristina Araújo de Oliveira Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de

Fora, MG, Brazil
Lourdes Onuchic Universidade Estadual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, São
Paulo, SP, Brazil
Daniel Clark Orey Universidade Federal de Ouro Preto, Ouro Preto, MG, Brazil
Maria Isabel Ramalho Ortigão Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil
Cármen Lúcia Brancaglion Passos Universidade Federal de São Carlos, São
Carlos, Brazil
Miriam Godoy Penteado Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, SP, Brazil
Célia Maria Carolino Pires Universidade Cruzeiro do Sul, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
Mauren Porciúncula Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Brazil
Alessandro Jacques Ribeiro Center of Mathematics, Computing and Cognition,
Federal University of ABC, Santo André, SP, Brazil
Maurício Rosa Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil
Suzi Samá Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Rio Grande, Brazil
João Ricardo Viola dos Santos Universidade Federal de Mato Grosso do Sul,
Campo Grande, Brazil
Marcio Antonio da Silva Federal University of Mato Grosso do Sul, Campo
Grande, MS, Brazil
Elizabeth Gomes Souza Universidade Federal do Pará, Belém, Brazil
Alina Galvão Spinillo Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil
Leo Akio Yokoyama Colégio de Aplicação da Universidade Federal do Rio de
Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Chapter 1
To Think in a New Way in Mathematics
Education
Ubiratan D’Ambrosio
We have to learn to think in a new way. … There lies before us,

if we choose, continual progress in happiness, knowledge, and
wisdom. Shall we, instead, choose death, because we cannot
forget our quarrels? We appeal as human beings to human
beings: Remember your humanity, and forget the rest. If you
can do so, the way lies open to a new Paradise; if you cannot,
there lies before you the risk of universal death.
The Russell-Einstein Manifesto, 1955
Abstract In this chapter, mathematics educators are encouraged to think about a

broader conception of mathematics, one that aims towards human well-being, free-
dom and choice, good social relations, security, and peace of mind. It is argued that,
since as mathematics educators we influence the generations that will oversee future
world affairs, it is our responsibility to prepare them to shape a new civilization, in
which social justice and peace with dignity are privileged. This involves a rethink-
ing of the ways in which mathematics is taught and practiced: rather than stressing
only principles and techniques, it is also important to reflect on the ethics of math-
ematics, its uses for good or for evil. Part of this rethinking involves reflecting on
why mathematics is taught and while the declared intention is often that it will be
useful for everyday life, it is also important to recognize that our most successful
students may design lethal weapons or reinforce the practices of brutal capitalism.
History tells us that mathematics is the dorsal spine of modern civilization, hence
mathematics and mathematics education have everything to do with the state of the
world. In short, this chapter considers how, in an era of increasing globalization in
all sectors of society, the ethics of respect, solidarity, and cooperation might perme-
ate all aspects of mathematics education.
U. D’Ambrosio (*)
Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Campinas, SP, Brazil
Universidade Anhanguera de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
e-mail: ubi@usp.br
© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 1

A. J. Ribeiro et al. (eds.), Mathematics Education in Brazil,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93455-6_1
2 U. D’Ambrosio
1.1 Introduction
Right at the beginning of my career as a mathematician, I was impressed by the

appeal of the two eminent mathematicians of the twentieth century. They were con-
cerned with the world rapidly approaching doomsday in view of the insane nuclear
race. Their appeal was partially successful, in the sense of avoiding a final nuclear
confrontation by the two then superpowers, the USA and the USSR. But it was and
continues to be ignored as an appeal to human beings to remember their humanity.
Half a century later, the survival of the species is threatened by a societal break-
down, as is strongly expressed by distinguished astrophysicist Lord Martin Rees,
FRS:
The main threats to sustained human existence now come from people, not from nature.
Ecological shocks that irreversibly degrade the biosphere could be triggered by the unsus-
tainable demands of a growing world population. Fast-spreading pandemics would cause
havoc in the megacities of the developing world. And political tensions will probably stem
from scarcity of resources, aggravated by climate change. Equally worrying are the impon-
derable downsides of powerful new cyber-, bio-, and nanotechnologies. Indeed, we’re
entering an era when a few individuals could, via error or terror, trigger societal breakdown
(Rees, 2013).
Mathematics is present in all the stages of the evolution of the human species,
since pre-historic times (D’Ambrosio & Almeida, 2017) advances in mathematics
are associated with progress. As historian Mary Lefkowitz says: “The evolution of
general mathematical theories from those basics [the mathematics of Egyptians,
Sumerians, and others] is the real basis of Western thought” (emphasis is mine).1
Mathematics educators will miss their most important ethical responsibility
without a clear understanding of how mathematics and mathematics education are
related to this tragic perspective for the future of humanity. It is a gross mistake to
ignore that the transmission of mathematics consists only of principles and tech-
niques. The same is true for all fields of knowledge. Indeed, it is more important to
reflect on the ethics of mathematics, its uses for good or for evil, than in merely
transmitting contents. Although mathematics is taught with the declared intention
that it will be useful for everyday life, mathematics educators cannot ignore the fact
that their most successful students may be engineers who design lethal weapons or
economists that reinforce the practices of brutal capitalism.
The main issues affecting society nowadays can be synthesized in:
• National security, personal security
• Government/politics
• Economics: social and environmental impact
• Relations among nations
• Relations among social classes
1
This is quoted in Ken Ringle: A Professor’s Collision Course: Classics Scholar Mary Lefkowitz
Shakes Up Academia with Her Critique of Afrocentrism. The Washington Post, June 11, 1996, pp.
A1, A3.
1 To Think in a New Way in Mathematics Education 3
• People’s welfare
• The preservation of natural and cultural resources
Mathematics, mathematicians, and mathematics educators are deeply involved
with all these issues. History tells us that the technological, industrial, military,
economic, and political complexes have developed thanks to mathematical material
and intellectual instruments. It is also clear that mathematics has been relying on
these complexes for the material bases of its continuing progress.
It is widely recognized that mathematics is the most universal mode of thought
and that survival with dignity is the most universal problem facing mankind. It is
expected that scientists, mathematicians, and mathematics educators be concerned
with the most universal problem, that is, survival with dignity, and also have much
familiarity with the most universal mode of thought, that is, mathematics. It is abso-
lutely natural to expect that they, mathematicians and mathematics educators, look
into the relations between these two universals, that is, into the role of mathemati-
cians and math educators in the pursuit of a civilization with dignity for all, in which
inequity, arrogance, and bigotry have no place. This means, to achieve a world in
peace (Pugwash Manifesto, 1955).
My current concerns about research and practice in mathematics education fit
into my broad interest in the human condition as related to the history of natural
evolution (from the Cosmos to the future of the human species) and to the history of
ideas, particularly the history of the explanations of creation and of evolution.
Reflections on how mathematics contributes for human well-being must permeate
the lectures of mathematics teachers and also of teacher educators in both pre-
service and in-service courses and in professional development programs.
Human well-being in the broad sense is the main focus of both our pedagogical
role and the reason for scientific advances. In this chapter, I discuss my views on the
role of mathematics and mathematics education moving into a future focused on the
broad concept of human well-being as conceived by the ICSU:
Human well-being: A context- and situation-dependent state, comprising basic material for
a good life, freedom and choice, health and bodily well -being, good social relations, secu-
rity, peace of mind, and spiritual experience (ICSU, 2010).
For nearly 50 years now, I have been discussing proposals of mathematics for
social justice, with different formulations, as the main focus of mathematics educa-
tion. I believe that mathematics educators should be educators who regard mathe-
matics as an important instrument to prepare future generations to live in a world
with peace and human dignity for all.
In 1976, in my controversial discussion paper on why do we teach mathematics,
presented at the Third International Congress of Mathematical Education (ICME-
3), in Karlsruhe, Germany, I stated:
We see the educational process as the conjugation of global socio-economic aspects aiming
at the betterment of the quality of life. In this conjugation intervene, the same as in the
technological process, the philosophy to which society subscribes, as well as considerations
about manpower and available material resources (D’Ambrosio, 1976; p. 224).
4 U. D’Ambrosio
Almost 20 years later, in 1993, at the 15th annual conference of the North
American Chapter of the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME-NA), in
Pacific Grove, California, I went further in these ideas:
Although the main concern of this meeting is Mathematics Education, I believe I will be
allowed to subordinate my comments to a higher objective: the survival of civilization on
Earth with dignity for all. This is not merely jargonizing. The world is threatened, not only
by aggressions against nature and the environment. We are equally concerned with increas-
ing violations of human dignity. We face more and more cases of life under fear, hatred and
violation of the basic principles upon which civilization rests (D’Ambrosio, 1993; p. 31).
In other writings, I have asked for a new thinking in mathematics education. My

objective, in this chapter, is to stress the fact that our most urgent concern is to teach
mathematics for social justice as it is understood in the broad sense of attaining the
kind of human well-being that the ICSU wrote about in 2010.
No one can deny that mathematics is an essential intellectual and material instru-
ment for full citizenship. Higher education and research is responsible for preparing
teachers and for proposing innovations in the curriculum and in methodological
appropriation in education. The rapid development of digital technologies in infor-
mation and communication calls for profound innovation in methodology.
I have often referred to mathematics as the imprint of modern society, for good
and evil. But paradoxically mathematics has been the main instrument in weaponry
and in economics. And the consequence has been wars, greedy capitalism, uncon-
trollable consumerism, and aggression against people, killing and suppressing dig-
nity. I understand the violation of social justice in this broad conception. As political
scientist Glenn D. Paige argues:
The structure of society does not depend upon lethality. There are no social relationships
that require actual or threatened killing to sustain or change them. No relationships of domi-
nance or exclusion—boundaries, forms of government, property, gender, race, ethnicity,
class, or systems of spiritual or secular belief—require killing to support or challenge them.
This does not assume that such a society is unbounded, undifferentiated, or conflict-free,
but only that its structure and processes do not derive from or depend upon killing. There
are no vocations, legitimate or illegitimate, whose purpose is to kill (Paige, 2002; p. 30).
Similarly, the Charter For a World Without Violence, endorsed by Nobel laure-
ates, ends with the appeal:
To address all forms of violence we encourage scientific research in the fields of human
interaction and dialogue, and we invite participation from the academic, scientific and reli-
gious communities to aid us in the transition to non-violent, and non-killing societies.2
Mathematicians and mathematics educators are among those invited to partici-

pate in creating the transition to nonviolent and non-killing societies. How do we
respond to this appeal?
2
http://www.nobelforpeace-summits.org/charter-for-a-world-without-violence/
1.2 he State of the World and Mathematics

T
and Mathematics Education
Mathematician Mikhail Gromov, the 2009 Abel Prize laureate, says:

Earth will run out of the basic resources, and we cannot predict what will happen after that.
We will run out of water, air, soil, rare metals, not to mention oil. Everything will essentially
come to an end within fifty years. What will happen after that? I am scared. It may be okay
if we find solutions, but if we don’t then everything may come to an end very quickly.
Mathematics may help to solve the problem, but if we are not successful, there will not be
any mathematics left, I am afraid! (Gromov, 2010; p. 401)
I am also afraid. What kind of world are we leaving to the future generations?
The future may not even be. All our proposals for better educating the future genera-
tions may be voided. The tensions within our contemporary societies, both intrana-
tional and international, add to the feeling of fright and fear. As mathematicians and
mathematics educators we have a responsibility for the future. We have to find ways
to both recognize and respond to this responsibility.
The Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), organized by the United
Nations in June 4–6, 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, had the participation of all the disci-
plines. Mathematics played a transdisciplinarian role in the discussions. Indeed,
mathematics is deeply involved in the interdisciplinary research that took place in
preparation for the conference.
Christiane Rousseau, then Vice-President of the Executive Committee of
International Mathematics Union (IMU), herself a pure mathematician, announced
the endorsement given by IMU to the Conference Rio+20 and sponsored the broad
project Mathematics of Planet Earth (MPE) 2013. In her endorsement she stated:
A complex planet. Earth is a planet with dynamic processes in the mantle, oceans and
atmosphere creating climate. Mathematical sciences provide tools to understand these
dynamic processes and measure the variation of its dynamics due to natural interaction or
anthropogenic forcing.
A biologically diverse planet. Earth is the home of life supporting systems which,
through evolution, have generated biodiversity. Living species interact with ecosystems;
new species appear or disappear; and species migrate to spread spatially. Mathematical
modeling and analysis help us measure and understand what has happened in the past,
predict what may happen in the future, and manage the present to promote more desirable
future outcomes.
A planet structured by civilization. Humans have developed systems of great com-
plexity, including those for communication, transportation, energy, water, and health care.
These man-made systems are the ones over which we exert the most direct control; how-
ever, we must often analyze massive amounts of data from monitoring systems, deal with
multi-scale and/or distributed systems, and identify and quantify sources of uncertainty.
A planet at risk. Human activity has increased to the point where it influences the
global climate, impacts planet ability to feed its inhabitants, and threatens stability of these
systems. We need to understand how the earth’s systems interact. How does human activity
affect climate, climate affect agriculture, agriculture affect water quality? How do the avail-
ability of food and water affect human health and migration and human migration and
development affect animal migration? These are highly interconnected, complex adaptive
6 U. D’Ambrosio
systems. The mathematics of such systems is still poorly understood, while modeling them
must draw expertise from many disciplines.
MPE is being organized by a variety of committees with world-wide membership,
including an “Umbrella” Leadership Committee and committees focusing on workshops,
public awareness, education, etc. These committees coordinate activities among the many
participating institutes and societies.3
As mathematics educators, we must be aware of this endorsement and all the

issues raised therein. A number of mathematics educators have developed projects
to involve schools with the major objective of showing the students local specifici-
ties in the Planet Earth. As an example, we have The Project Parallel Globe.
Although conceived independently of the project MPE, the objective of this project
is to recreate, for students, important stages in the development of mathematics,
which are related to the observation of the skies.4 The project intends to assist stu-
dents in visualizing their position on the Earth surface in relation to the position
occupied by other countries, including observing the way the Sun illuminates differ-
ent regions of the Earth in real time. This visualization helps students to understand
time zones and the alternation of the seasons on the planet. This tool of didactic
practice is rich in mathematics content, as it allies observation, concrete experimen-
tation with reflection, and data collection. In the development of the project, it
became fundamental to share the results from countries of different longitude and
latitude, thus helping to clarify the semantic and symbolic differences of the distinc-
tions North-South, top-bottom, over-under, up-down in different languages and
cultures.
For his dissertation, in 2013, Marcelo Ferreira Paiva conducted research with
students of the 8th and 9th grades of elementary school aiming at involving them in
developing an understanding of their position on the Earth in relation to other loca-
tions on the planet (Paiva, 2013). He joined the Globo Local Project in which stu-
dents observe their position at different latitudes and longitudes during the Equinoxes
and Solstices 2011. Paiva showed that the integrated study of mathematics and
astronomy can help students to realize the importance of the production of knowl-
edge for understanding the world in which they are inserted. To reach that goal,
activities were developed using the software Stellarium, a gnomon, and the Globo
Local Paralelo—GLP, among others (see Footnote 1). The intrinsic objective is that
students realize that by expanding their knowledge they become critical and reflec-
tive citizens, aware of the need to care for the planet Earth.
Intercultural awareness has obvious political implications for a democratic per-
ception of globalization, and it supports respect for difference and the recognition
that all nations are part of the same global system, one that is threatened. The main
objective of the project is to convey to students the message that civilization is
3
http://mpe.dimacs.rutgers.edu/mpe2013-overview/ See also http://www.mpe2013.org, with very
interesting links.
4
A detailed explanation of the project is at the site https://www.academia.edu/8500143/The_
Parallel_Globe_and_the_Globo_Local_Project
threatened, that all nations share different but common environmental conditions,
and that mathematics is an important instrument for monitoring these conditions.
A remarkable conference on Visions in Mathematics—Towards 2000 was held in
Tel Aviv, Israel, from August 25 to September 3, 1999. It was one of the most
remarkable mathematical meetings in recent years and united some of the leading
mathematicians worldwide. The goals of the conference were to discuss the impor-
tance, the methods, the past and the future of mathematics as we enter the twenty-
first century and to consider the connection between mathematics and related areas.
In this conference, Gromov delivered an address where he pointed to new directions
for the development of mathematics, ones resulting from the sociocultural context
rather than the conceptual necessities and details intrinsic to established mathemat-
ics theories. We need another mathematics.
In his remarkable chapter on Spaces and questions, M. Gromov makes very deep
considerations about the nature of mathematics, inspired by historical reflections.
He says.
Nature and naturality of questions. Here are (brief, incomplete, personal and ambiguous)
remarks intended to make clearer, at least terminologically, the issues raised during discus-
sions we had at the meeting. “Natural” may refer to the structure or nature of mathematics
(granted this exists for the sake of argument), or to “natural” for human nature. We divide
the former into (pure) mathematics, logic and philosophy, and the latter, according to
(internal or external) reward stimuli, into intellectual, emotional, and social. How can we
trust our mind overwhelmed by intellectual, emotional, and social ideas to come up with
true mathematics, logic and philosophy questions? (Gromov, 2010; p. 122)
and concludes the paragraph saying, “As for myself, I love unnatural, crazily
unnatural problems but you stumble upon them so rarely!” (Gromov, 2010; p. 122).
The ideas of Gromov clearly indicate that the new generation of scientists, engi-
neers, and, obviously, mathematicians will need broader attitudes towards
mathematics.
Although these considerations are primarily addressed to research mathemati-
cians, it is undeniable that they pose an even great challenge to mathematics educa-
tors. It is questionable if we should insist in consuming school time and energy
teaching obsolete contents instead of moving more rapidly into the new concepts of
mathematics, as suggested by Gromov and others (2010). Indeed, we may be doing
a disservice to education and to future generations. Mathematics educators should
invite their students to explore and to divagate into new ideas. These ideas may even
be incomplete, only hints. Teachers should give students a possibility of exercising
their creativity, their fantasy. I cite the eminent Norwegian mathematician Sophus
Lie (1842–1899), when he said to a friend:
Without Fantasy one would never become a mathematician, and what gave me a place
among the mathematicians of our day, despite my lack of knowledge and form, was the
audacity of my thinking (Stubhaug, 2000; p. 143).
It is undeniable that a new face of mathematics, designed to deal with the mount-
ing menaces to civilization, is a strong motivation to study mathematics. The digital
natives feel that the traditional mathematics that still dominates the curricula is
8 U. D’Ambrosio
obsolete, boring, and useless. I am convinced that this is the main cause of the bad
results in tests.
The same question is applicable to the new physics, the new biology, and other
scientific fields. The eminent physicist Richard Feynman denounces, in the preface
of his well-known lectures, the damages caused to students when teachers insist in
presenting obsolete theories:
They [the students] have heard a lot about how interesting and exciting physics is—the
theory of relativity, quantum mechanics, and other modern ideas. By the end of two years
of our previous [i.e., traditional] course, many would be very discouraged because there
were really very few grand, new, modern ideas presented to them. They were made to study
inclined planes, electrostatics, and so forth, and after two years it was quite stultifying
(Feynman, Leighton, & Sands, 1963; p. 3).
The challenging problems require, besides new mathematical techniques, the

training of a new generation of researchers in the mathematical sciences. Again,
citing Gromov (1998):
We shall need for this the creation of a new breed of mathematical professionals able to
mediate between pure mathematics and applied science. The cross-fertilization of ideas is
crucial for the health of the science and mathematics (Gromov, 1998; pp. 846–847)
The mediation of mathematics and the other sciences is a fundamental theme.

The concept of integrating mathematics with sciences and applications is the moti-
vation of the concept of STEM in education. This concept was proposed in a pio-
neering symposium organized by the National Science Foundation of the USA in
1992. Six scholars from different parts of the world—all with expertise in science
and mathematics education—were invited to participate in a 4-week full time work-
ing symposium on International Perspectives on Science, Mathematics, Engineering,
and Technology Education. The project was designed by Dr. Kenneth J. Travers,
then Director of the Division of Research, Evaluation and Dissemination, with the
endorsement of Dr. Luther Williams, then Assistant Director, Directorate for
Education and Human Resources. I was privileged to chair the group formed by
Paul Black from England, Mohamed El-Tom from Sudan, Bienvenido Nebres from
the Philippines, Tibor Nemetz from Hungary, and Michael Matthews from Australia.
Our task was to investigate current programs of these four fields of study at all levels
of schooling and to review ongoing reform initiatives in science and mathematics
education in the world and their global implications for the twenty-first century
(D’Ambrosio et al., 1993).
The symposium was unique in several ways. Probably the most innovative fea-
ture was its interdisciplinary and international nature. Probably the most relevant
conclusion was the recognition of clear indications that in the curricular designs of
the future, science, mathematics, engineering, and technology education will prob-
ably appear as a unified field of study.
Much of our work in the symposium dealt with the future. We tried to probe well
into the twenty-first century—as far as the year 2061 when Halley’s Comet will
reappear—into a future when today’s children will be in charge and coping with the
effects of our decisions. Given the accelerated pace of change and the increased
interdependence of nations, the decisions we make today seem somehow more criti-
cal than do those made by our predecessors generations ago. During the 4 weeks,
we had the opportunity to meet with representatives of major professional societies,
such as the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National
Science Teachers Association, the Mathematical Association of America, the
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics and to interact with staff of the NSF.
It is relevant that Mathematics, as a science, has specificities. Mathematician
Steve Kennedy (2003):
Math is different from the other sciences. In a very real sense the problems, motivations and
verification of mathematics come from inside the discipline itself, whereas the other sci-
ences look to the world of phenomena for problems and affirmation. The chemist whose
experiment yields a result within six decimal places of his theoretical prediction has good
reason to feel pretty pleased with his theorizing. A mathematician rarely finds herself in
such an empirically happy place vis-à-vis her theories. Usually a mathematician has only
the cold reassurance of logic for comfort; the universe does not deign to validate our work
except indirectly, when the work proves useful as a model in another science (Kennedy,
2003; p. 180).
In mathematics education, to approximate mathematics to the sciences is to show

that mathematics is fully integrated with the scientific method, which is an essential
component of multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research. This integration is
intrinsic to The Laboratory Method in mathematics education, as proposed in 1902
by Eliakim H. Moore, then President of the American Mathematical Society, in a
remarkable article on the Foundations of Mathematics. Moore says:
[…] the boy will be learning to make practical use in his scientific investigations—to be
sure, in a naive and elementary way—of the finest mathematical tools which the centuries
have forged; that under skilful guidance he will learn to be interested not merely in the
achievements of the tools, but in the theory of the tools themselves, and that thus he will
ultimately have a feeling towards his mathematics extremely different from that which is
now met with only too frequently—a feeling that mathematics is indeed itself a fundamen-
tal reality of the domain of thought, and not merely a matter of symbols and arbitrary rules
and conventions (Moore, 1903; p. 408).
Rather than proposing a shortcut, Moore proposes restoring mathematics educa-

tion to the original roots of mathematics development in modernity. The advances
proposed since the sixteenth century recognize mathematics as the main support of
scientific inquiry.
1.3 New Approach to Mathematics and Mathematics

A
Education
A new mathematics depends, of course, on basic mathematics. But to what extent

shall we insist on the basics? Thanks to the amazing technology available, it is pos-
sible to accelerate the acquisition of the basic mathematics that is necessary—only
a small part of the necessary basics is in the usual programs, much of the program
10 U. D’Ambrosio
is irrelevant. It is important to step, rapidly, into new styles of mathematics. The

basic mathematics includes mainly concepts, not techniques. Curricular develop-
ment should focus on accelerating the teaching of the things that are effectively
basic in traditional mathematics, which are concepts. Instead, much of the time and
energy of teachers still goes into insisting on obsolete skills.
The difficulty is to bridge the gap between the internal advances of mathematics
and their utilization.
Some examples of shortcuts for presenting advanced mathematics in a simple
and contextual way are the proposals exposed in the books Calculus Made Easy:
Being a Very-Simplest Introduction to Those Beautiful Methods of Reckoning Which
Are Generally Called by the Terrifying Names of the Differential Calculus and the
Integral Calculus., first published in 1910, by Silvanus Thompson and generally
repudiated by mathematicians, and Lectures on Physics, based on Richard
Feynman’s lectures from 1961 to 1963 (cited above), strongly criticized by his
peers. Both authors were distinguished scientists, not mathematicians, but users of
advanced mathematics. Both rapidly presented the concepts with adequate rigor for
the purpose of their uses. Finding the equilibrium between accessible presentation
and acceptable rigor is a major challenge. Regrettably, this is poorly done by math-
ematics educators.
A great challenge for mathematicians and mathematics educators is to recognize
new ideas in mathematics and to develop methods for transmitting this to teachers.
The need to face this challenge was clearly stated by David Hilbert in his memora-
ble lecture in the International Congress of Mathematician of 1900: “A mathemati-
cal theory is not to be considered complete until you have made it so clear that you
can explain it to the first man whom you meet on the street” (Hilbert, 1902; p. 438).
Of course, the same remark applies to children.
Children must be prepared for a future that we cannot envisage. Education, in
this era of science and technology, challenges the established approaches “vali-
dated” by results in standardized tests. The goals of education go much beyond
merely preparing for professional success. Education has a responsibility to build
up saner attitudes toward the self, toward society, and toward nature. We are primar-
ily faced with preparing teachers to assume a different attitude in their teachings,
responding to the new challenges. Educators must be creative.
I believe the key problems in the preparation, both in pre- and in-service, of
teachers of mathematics are related to inadequate visions of the purposes of educa-
tion and of the role of mathematics teachers as educators. Prospective and already
in-service teachers of mathematics should be always reflecting about the changes in
education that are consequences of profound changes in society, particularly in the
demographic scenario, in production, in information, in communication, and in the
environment.
Here, I elaborate on the purposes of education and the responsibilities of teach-
ers, particularly mathematics teachers, in building up a saner future. I identify two
goals for societies to create and maintain establish educational systems:
• To promote citizenship, which prepares the individual to be integrated and pro-

ductive in society and is achieved by transmitting values which are rooted in the
past and show rights and responsibilities in society.
• To promote creativity, leading to progress and pointing to the future, which is
achieved by helping people to fulfill their potentials and to rise to the highest of
their capability.
The practice of education is in the present and in this concept, it must deal with
the encounter of past and future. The major challenge to educators is to manage, in
the process, the encounter of the past and of the future, that is, the transmission of
values rooted in the past, which leads to citizenship, and the promotion of the new,
for an uncertain future, which means creativity.
Responsible educators must guide their actions in meeting these two goals being
aware that:
• To promote citizenship, a critical view of the present as the link of past and future
is of major importance. We do not want educators to transmit a docile citizen-
ship, in the sense of simply accepting rules and codes that violate human dignity.
They must understand the necessity of insubordination when needed.
• To promote creativity, educators must discuss ethical issues and awareness of the
consequences of their performance. We do not want those of our students who
become bright scientists to design lethal weapons or those who become econo-
mists to create instruments that reinforce the practices of brutal capitalism or
those who become public and private gestors and administrators to practice and
allow inequity, arrogance, and bigotry. Educators must instill the feeling that in
all our behavior we must be critical of the norms and rules to be followed and
aware of the consequences of our actions.
I synthesize the goals that I hold important in education hence in mathematics
education, as the transmission of values rooted in the past, which leads to citizen-
ship, but not docile citizenship; and the promotion of the new, for an uncertain
future, which means creativity, but not irresponsible creativity.
Didactics and pedagogy are strategies to manage cultural encounters in the pres-
ent of the past, the “old,” represented by parents and teachers, and of the future, the
“new,” represented by daughters and sons and students. Both home and schools are
the encounter in the present of the past and of the future. I have appealed to the
metaphor of the mythological god Janus in previous papers (D’Ambrosio, 2015).
Discussed as generation gap by many sociologists, this may be the main factor of
increasing violence in society. Parents and teachers are seen as heralds of the past,
repeating traditional values, curricula and knowledge, and students, eager about
fulfilling their wishes and hopes for the future, anxious to probe into the new and the
unknown, are seen as unruly, capable of turbulent and even violent behavior. This is
frequent in traditional schooling. The film The Wall: Another brick in the wall, by
Pink Floyd, showing the appeal of a very violent behavior to a child, is shocking.5
5
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FbeszMeyguQ&list=RDFbeszMeyguQ#t=6
12 U. D’Ambrosio
From this and many other points of view, schools must change. In 2001, in a
seminar at the Institute for Information Technology in Education, of UNESCO
based in Moscow, Seymour Papert denounced the enormous amount of resources
that are wasted in obsolete education:
Using computers connected to the Internet students can obtain better and quicker access to
sources of historical as well as scientific knowledge; they can explore economics as well as
physics by making models and simulations; the rigor of mathematics can be extended to
areas that were previously inaccessible. But in the midst of these explosions of change the
institution of School has remained as remarkably constant over time as it is across coun-
tries. So why am I wasting time drawing attention to familiar facts and problems that are
already being addressed? The answer is saddening: Although the problem is widely recog-
nized, its depth is seldom appreciated. Most of those billions of dollars are being wasted
(emphasis in original) (Papert, 2001; pp. 1–2).
Indeed, this waste means that much of the traditional content that exhausts cur-
rent programs should be drastically changed. It is a big mistake to insist on mathe-
matics curricula simply because they satisfy criteria of rigor and the internal
organization of mathematics. Some defend that the satisfaction of such criteria are
enough to justify content.
To prepare children to be proficient in obsolete mathematics may result in their
marginality in the future, because they will possess outdated knowledge. Avoiding
this anguish is an important feature of social justice. For me, social justice should be
understood as an attempt to satisfy the basic needs for a good life: freedom and
choice; health and bodily well-being; good social relations anchored on security,
peace of mind, and respect for spiritual experience.
We must avoid giving students the illusion that by passing the tests and obtaining
good grades they are prepared for the future. This illusion is fallacious and a denial
of social justice. The inadequacy of tests is not new. More than 200 years ago,
Évariste Galois clearly denounced the illusion of tests: “Are you quite happy to do
well in the test? Do you believe you will be finally appointed as one of the two hun-
dred geometers that will be admitted? You believe you are prepared: you are mis-
taken, this is what I will show you in a next letter” (Galois, 1831). He died before
writing the next letter.
It is important to recognize that improving opportunities for employment is a real
expectation that students and parents have of school. But preparation for the job
market is indeed preparation for the capability of dealing with new challenges.
Many careers exist that require different kinds of knowledge and experiences but
remain unfilled because of the lack of able candidates. There is a need for change.
But what to change and how to change? Ideally, the advances of research in math-
ematics education produce better-qualified teachers, ones capable of promoting
innovative education. Regrettably, the focus on passing tests dominates school sys-
tems and it is reinforced by offering teachers rewards, such as salary increases, if
their students are successful in the tests. School officials often support this practice,
because they are rewarded with grants and other government subsidies. This reward
system is a subtle form of corruption, which paves the way to explicit corruption, a
flagrant violation of social justice.
Responsible governance should look carefully at the disequilibrium among prep-

aration of graduates and the needs of the job market. Robert Reich, Professor of
Public Policy of the University of California at Berkeley, extensively discussed this
disequilibrium some years ago.
Education for all, which is frequently given as a strategy for Social Justice, has many prob-
lems and the fact that more and more people are becoming educated, with emphases in
science, technology and engineering, sounds like a good thing. It is, indeed, progress. But
it is an illusion that “education for all” is the key to economic growth and prosperity and
good jobs. We have to analyze the context in which this progress takes place and the fitness
and quality of it. There is no point in preparing children for jobs that will probably be
extinct when they reach adulthood (Reich, 1992).
Education for all leads to an extraordinary expansion of people going to school

with the hope of finding good jobs. This increases the possibility of reducing social
inequity. But there are reasons for caution, as pointed out by Viviane Forrester in her
influential book The Economic Horror, 1999. The expansion can dilute the quality
of graduates, giving space to less able individuals entering the system. It is frequent
to see bright students poorly employed and disillusion of obtaining a degree. The
ruthless and often fruitless fight for a permanent job is a fact all over the world. A
cause may be the obsolescence of curricula, as repeatedly I discussed in this chapter.
Many programs remain firmly attached to the traditional curricula, disregarding the
disequilibrium between the preparation of graduates and the dynamics of the job
market.
These remarks may be interpreted by many as suggesting a reduction of the
importance of mathematical content. This interpretation is grossly mistaken. We
need more and better mathematical content, but not the same content. I repeat
that methodological innovation should be directed to making advanced mathemat-
ics attractive and teachable. “Compromising rigor, in benefit of generating interest
and motivation, cannot be interpreted as conceptual errors, or as relaxing the impor-
tance of a serious mathematics in schools” (D’Ambrosio, 2012; p. 20).
1.4 athematics and Mathematics Education in a Changing

M
Civilization
Mathematics is a fascinating cultural endeavor. It is seen as the imprint of rationality

and, indeed, it is the dorsal spine of modern civilization. All the spectacular achieve-
ments of science and technology have their bases in mathematics. And the institu-
tions of modern civilization—mainly economics, politics, management, and social
order—are rooted in mathematics. It is no surprise that accomplished scholars are
devoted to mathematics. A good number of successful citizens who did not accom-
plish well in mathematics in their school years, and sometimes even failed, put their
trust in mathematics in the educational systems.
14 U. D’Ambrosio
Administrators, teachers, parents, students, and the population in general, see mathematics
along with reading and writing as the principle subjects in schools. But society regards
those who do well in mathematics as geniuses, and those who fail are stigmatized. There is
a lack of recognition that there are different interests, different creativity, and different tal-
ents among different individuals, and particularly among different children. Mathematics
acts a selector on intellectual elites. These elites too often pursue the same patterns of soci-
ety, impregnated with arrogance, inequity, and bigotry, which is a clear violation of social
justice (D’Ambrosio, 2012; p. 21).
When looking at mathematics education, we may identify two positions:

1. To use education as a strategy for teaching mathematics (a position defended by
alienated mathematicians).
2. To teach mathematics as a strategy for good education (a position defended by
socially committed educators).
Here, I resort to another metaphor. Position 1 sees mathematics as the center of
the intellectual universe. Everything, children and curricula, turns around mathe-
matics, as a rigid center, cold and austere in the words of Bertrand Russell:
“Mathematics … possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty—a beauty cold and
austere, like that of sculpture.” Metaphorically, this is a Ptolomaic position. Position
2 claims that curricula, particularly methodology, are movable around children, the
source of energy for our planet. Metaphorically, this is a Copernican position.
The focus of our mission as educators resides in children and also young and
elderly adults—in general, those who are the reason and the source of energy for
educational action. In this Copernican view, the disciplines, which revolve around
those being educated, are merely instruments in this action. Disciplines are, thus, in
permanent reformulation, reflecting social and cultural contexts and the queries,
wishes, and needs of those being educated.
We have to look into history and epistemology with a broader view. The denial
and exclusion of the cultures of the periphery, so common in the colonial process,
still prevails in modern society. The denial of knowledge that affects populations is
of the same nature as the denial of knowledge to individuals, particularly children.
To propose directions to counteract ingrained practices is the major challenge of
educators, particularly mathematics educators. Large sectors of the population do
not have access to full citizenship. Some do not even have access to the basic needs
for survival. This limited access is the situation in most of the world, and it occurs
even in the most developed and richest nations. Further discussion about these mat-
ters is the objective of the Program Ethnomathematics. I will briefly give some
fundamental ideas of the program.
The Program Ethnomathematics is a transdisciplinarian and transcultural
research program on the evolution of behavior and knowledge in the human species.
It benefits from results and methodology research in paleoanthropology,
anthropology and neurocognition, mythology, history, sociology (communitarian
life, politics, economics, education), and cultural studies in general. The central
question is how the human species developed, in its evolution in the most diverse
natural and sociocultural environments, strategies to cope with the ample environ-
ment. To face this challenge, research must be transcultural and transdisciplinarian

and must borrow results and methodology of different fields. It is basic for the
Program Ethnomathematics to explain and understand the strategies developed by
the human species to deal with reality in its broadest sense. The ensemble of these
strategies is a complex system of knowledge and behavior, focused in the satisfac-
tion of the pulsations of survival and transcendence, characteristic of the human
species.
This research addresses the emergence and evolution of behavior and knowledge
since hominization through homo sapiens sapiens. As proposed by Jean Piaget, Lev
Vygotsky, and many other researchers of human and animal behavior, this research
is greatly aided and receives hints and ideas, thanks to the observation and analyses
of the behavior and knowledge construction of children and adults, from birth to
death. Particularly relevant in this line of research is the project of Alison Gopnik to
study the evolution of observation and of their interpretations from birth to 5 years
(Gopnik, 2009). We can have insights about the evolution of the species in analyz-
ing the evolution of each individual human being and of their social interactions.
The Program Ethnomathematics initially contemplated the History and
Philosophy of Mathematics and its pedagogical implications (D’Ambrosio, 1992).
Soon it became clear that it is impossible to discuss history, philosophy, and peda-
gogy of mathematics isolated from other disciplines and from other forms of knowl-
edge, in general.
Although I have written extensively about this, it is important to clarify that the
word ethnomathematics is the result of an etymological exercise. I was looking for
a simpler sentence to express “the ways, the arts and the techniques developed by
the humans in specific natural and sociocultural environments to understand, to
explain, to deal with daily needs and to satisfy will” when, browsing into etymo-
logical dictionaries, I found three Greek roots that approximately express what I
was looking for:
techné (or tics) means the ways, arts and techniques developed by the humans.
ethno means specific natural and sociocultural environments.
mathema means to understand, to explain, to deal with daily needs and will.
Thus I composed the short phrase “tics of mathema in distinct ethnos.” Clearly,
this led to an even simpler expression, the composed word tics + mathema + ethno.
Next step was obvious: the word ethnomathematics. Although the word had been
used before, mainly by ethnographers, the way I conceived it was a shortening of
the sentence “the ways, the arts and the techniques developed by the humans in
specific natural and sociocultural environments to understand, to explain, to deal
with daily needs and to satisfy will.”
This calls for a warning: do not use ethnomathematics in the sense of
ethno+mathematics and even less as ethnic-mathematics, as it is used by
ethnographers, anthropologists, and even mathematics educators concerned with
cultural issues. Those interested on detailed discussion should look into the many
publications on the theme (D’Ambrosio, 2006).
16 U. D’Ambrosio
A new world order is urgently needed. Our hopes for the future depend on learn-
ing—critically—the lessons of the past. When we look at the history of mathemat-
ics since the early mathematical manifestations of man (and woman), we recognize
the development of techniques to compare, to classify and to organize, to measure
and to count, to infer and to conclude, much before mathematics is formalized. We
also recognize mathematical ideas in the confluence of various modes of under-
standing, such as the religions, the arts, the techniques, and the sciences. We must
assume a transdisciplinarian posture, and we need to look at all development and
modes of understanding in different cultural environments, in different traditions—
that is, we must assume a transcultural posture. This new posture may restore to
mathematics its characteristic of being the most universal mode of thought and may
allow it to face the most universal problem facing humanity, which is survival with
dignity.
The enormous changes in society, particularly due to demographic dynamics,
have raised the exclusion of large sectors of the population, both in developed and
undeveloped nations, to unbearable levels. The exclusion of countries from the ben-
efits of progress and advancement is unsustainable. Any explanation for the current
perverse concept of civilization requires a deep reflection on colonialism. This
reflection should not aim at blaming one group or another and should not be an
attempt to redo the past. Rather, it is the moment to understand the past as a first step
to move into the future. Because mathematics has everything to do with the State of
the World, its autonomy in the curriculum, and its central role as the dominating
discipline and as an educational sphere in itself, should be reconsidered. Paraphrasing
Gromov (1998), we shall need for this the creation of a new breed of mathematical
teachers, able to mediate between mathematics and the other disciplines (Gromov,
1998). But current curricula, in all levels of education, look like a selection of non-
overlapping sets. Each discipline has its own domain. As a result, there is a lack of
perception among teachers of the relation of mathematics to a broader vision of the
world and of society. Curriculum is the strategy for the educational action.
Educational action should offer three instruments that, together, provide what is
essential for citizenship in a world moving swiftly toward a planetary civilization.
These instruments are the communicative instruments, the analytic/symbolic instru-
ments, and the technological instruments. They constitute the modern trivium,
which I call respectively literacy, matheracy, and technoracy. This trivium is a
proposal for a curriculum based on developing a broad perception of the complexity
of the world and of society and providing the instruments to deal with such
complexity.
Literacy is the critical capability of processing information, such as the use of
written and spoken language, of signs and gestures, of codes and numbers
(D’Ambrosio, 2012). Nowadays, reading must also include the competency of
numeracy, of interpretation of graphs and tables, and of the other means of inform-
ing the individual. Reading even includes understanding the condensed language of
codes. These competencies have much more to do with screens and keys than with
pencil and paper.
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his master, and had got about half way to the shore when the girl
gave a terrible shriek, and in sight of her parents disappeared
beneath the water.
Hearing the shriek the dog turned at once and swam out again
towards the place where he had left his young mistress. The poor
father sprang into the boat and pushed it off into the stream, while
her mother, poor soul, stood wringing her hands, and moaning
piteously on the shore. With every nerve strained her husband pulled
after the dog, which seemed to be swimming towards the entrance of
the lake barking all the time. The poor man knew that his child had
been seized by a shark, but still he followed the faithful animal, the
mother’s frantic cries ringing in his ear, and urging him on. When he
got to about one hundred yards from the dog, he could see that
between its barks it was trying to snap at something beneath the
water. Suddenly it gave a terrified howl, and seemed to be in
difficulty. When he reached it, he found one of the poor dog’s hind
legs had been bitten clean off, and the faithful beast was drowning.
There was no sign or trace of his daughter, and after rowing about
for some time he was forced to give up the search and return to his
grief-stricken wife. It was an awful fate for one so young and full of
life to meet her death in sight of the door of her home and loved
ones, and they powerless to help or save.
But the lake and those who lived near it had not seen the last of
the shark, as I found to my cost a few weeks later. As I have already
said I was passionately fond of swimming, and often, when my day’s
work was done, I would swim across the lake to Southland, rest
awhile and swim back. After the tragedy at Boyd’s I was very careful
to keep a good look out, but on this particular day it had been
fearfully hot, the temperature being I should think 90 degrees in the
shade. I had been out with a riding party looking after the horses and
by the time we returned and I had settled the horses for the night, I
felt pretty fagged, the water looked very tempting, so in I went, and
struck out for Southland, landed, had a run along the beach, and
started to swim back to Belmont.
I had got about half way over when I noticed quite a commotion
among the people at Mr. Williams’s, who usually at this time of the
day were sitting out on the lawn, and in the grounds after dinner, but
now I noticed that they were running about and pointing to me, while
some were looking through spy-glasses. I thought they were
admiring my good swimming for I was a fairly good swimmer in those
days, and a bit proud of it, too, so, youth-like, I put on a spurt, just to
show off a bit. In doing so I kicked something with my right foot,
which hurt my toes considerably, but thinking it was some floating
rubbish I swam on, never giving a thought to it, or troubling to
ascertain what it was. The number of people out on the hill was
increasing, until I should think everybody belonging to the
establishment was watching me, and waving their handkerchiefs. I
began to feel quite flattered by the attention they were giving to me,
and wondered what there was in my swimming to cause it. Suddenly
I saw several men break away from the rest, and rush down to the
boatshed on the beach. This rather surprised me, they surely did not
think I was drowning. To relieve their fears, as I thought, and give
them a change of programme I turned over and commenced to swim
along leisurely on my back. In doing so I happened to cast a glance
behind me, and “Oh God in heaven help me!” I cried, for there, not
twenty feet from me was the ugly dorsal fin of a monstrous shark.
This was the cause of the commotion on the hillside, not admiration
of my swimming, but to warn me of the fate that was closing around
me like a net.
I nearly sank with fright, there seemed to be no escape, I trembled
from head to foot, I knew now only too well what I had struck with my
foot. Quickly I turned over on my breast and struck out with every
ounce of strength that was in me. In fancy I could already feel the
loathsome brute’s teeth tearing my flesh. “Dear God,” I prayed, “not
that, not a terrible death like that.” Thoughts of home and those left
behind crowded into my mind and like a flash my whole past life
passed before me. Just then to my joy I saw two boats coming to my
rescue. Oh, how slowly they seemed to be coming towards me. My
heart was thumping like a sledge hammer in my breast. Then, oh
horror, I felt something touch my right leg, and I lacked, splashed,
shouted and almost fainted with fright, but still I swam on, and the
shark dropped behind for a moment or two. Then, with another
prayer to God for help, my nerve seemed to come back to me, and I
swam on, but this time it was with the madness of despair. A few
seconds afterwards I saw the dark shadow of the shark pass just
beneath me and dart ahead and then go rushing past on my right
side. I knew then that my time was come and death was hovering
over me, the boats were drawing nearer, in despair I shouted “Help,
help, for God’s sake help me. Shark, a shark!” and I saw them bend
to their oars and pull for all they were worth. The man who was
steering the first boat sang out “swim to the left, to the left,” and I did
so with all my might. The first boat dashed past me on my right side,
and the second ran up alongside of me, and in an instant I was
grasped by the arms and legs, and almost jerked into the boat. And
not a moment too soon, for someone in the forward boat called out
—“Look out! Look out!” and the next minute the shark darted past
our boat, his dorsal fin sending up quite a spray as he tore through
the water, swishing his tail in anger and madness at the loss of his
prey.
“By Jove, you’ve had a narrow squeak, young fellow,” said one of
the gentlemen as he mopped his perspiring face. “I never thought to
see you reach land again.” I am glad I was not the one in the water, I
should have sunk in sheer fright. It was simply marvellous that the
brute did not attack you; we saw him go up to you more than once,
and I for one gave you up for lost.
It was not until some hours later that I was able to thank my
preservers, for when we reached Belmont I collapsed, and was put
to bed by some of our men who were kindness itself. Mr. Williams
came and gave me a dose of medicine that sent me off into a deep
sleep which lasted some hours. When I awoke it was morning, and I
felt quite myself, but the nearness to which I had approached death
left its mark upon me. I never attempted to swim across to Southland
again, but was content to bathe near the beach and then kept a
sharp lookout for my enemy the shark.
I stayed at Belmont twelve months, and they were some of the
happiest in my life; it was a happy, healthy, outdoor life, and suited
me in every way. Every day brought its work and its pleasure, now it
would be yachting, then it would be hunting wild horses, kangaroos
and wallabies during the day, and at night we would hunt the
opossum in the gum trees. The time seemed to fly.
One day while gathering apricots in the orchard, I noticed a black
cloud rising across the lake. I looked and looked at it, but could make
nothing of it. I had seen many squalls in my time, and had learnt a
good bit about them, but this puzzled me. It kept altering its shape in
a strange unaccountable manner, and yet one point seemed to be in
advance of all the rest. I was watching it closely and turning it over in
my mind as to what it could mean, when I heard the whistle that
called us back to the house. When I got there I was told that the
black cloud, as I thought it, was in reality thousands and thousands
of flying foxes, who were migrating south and if they were not
frightened away they would steal every particle of fruit in the orchard.
Now these destructive creatures are one of the scourges of the
fruit orchards, and are called by some the fruit bat and by others the
flying fox, and are, I think, only found in the warmer regions of the old
world. The bats are the only members of the Mammalia which
possess the power of true flight, and the way this is accomplished
was pointed out to me afterwards by one of the visitors staying at the
house. The wings of the bat have been formed by the modification of
the fore limbs, the finger bones having become lengthened to serve
as a support to a thin web of very sensitive skin extending outwards
from the body, not unlike the covering of an umbrella. The hand of
the bat is quite a unique organ. When resting they attach themselves
to the boughs of the trees by these fingers and in the dusk might
easily be taken for fruit.
I was handed a cumbersome wooden rattle, and told to give it full
force all the time they were passing over head, and a terrible noise it
made. The master and several men were discharging guns at the
same time. So great were the numbers of the flock that they were
quite ten minutes in passing over.
Now ten miles from Belmont there was a large fruit farm owned by
a Mr. Warner. One large orchard was entirely of quinces for the
Sydney market. He estimated that the crop would yield quite eleven
tons of fruit. Unfortunately for him he and his family were away at the
time, and those left in charge were either careless of their
responsibilities, or had not noticed the cloud coming their way, but
this was a grand opportunity for the foxes, who live on fruit. Down
they swooped and stripped both that orchard and the garden around
the house of every particle of fruit that was growing. The whole
year’s crop vanished in a few minutes, the cloud swept on, and no
cheque was left to pay for the fruit.
Another very interesting sight to be seen at that time of the year
was the migrating south of immense flocks of black swans. There is
no more beautiful sight than to see them flying overhead for then the
pure white of their under pinions is exposed and glistens like snow in
the sun, spreading themselves out in the shape of a triangle, with
one bird leading in front. At no time do the other birds approach the
leader, but each keeps its own place like a regiment of soldiers with
an officer leading them on. They fly very high, and seldom, if ever,
come within shooting range when migrating.
CHAPTER XX
Snake Stories—Two Brave Girls
In the previous chapter I have spoken of Mr. Warner and his fruit
orchard. The old saying that misfortunes, like blessings, never come
singly was verified in their case. One day, not long after the previous
incident, Miss Warner was in the orchard pruning some young trees.
As she moved away from a tree she had finished with, she felt a
sharp slap on her right thigh and knew at once she had trodden on a
snake, which animals are very numerous in that part of the country.
Her bush training had taught her that it is safest in such a case to
stand quite still until you know which end of the snake you are
treading on. Perchance it may be on its head, and if so you can
easily dispatch it; and if, unfortunately, you are on its tail, well, no
earthly power can save you from being bitten before you can jump
clear. As ill-luck would have it, Miss Warner had trod upon the
snake’s tail and it had retaliated by digging its poisoned fang into her
thigh. It was just about to make another stab, when she struck at it
with her pruning knife, cutting it in two and killing it instantly. Then
she coolly wiped the point of the knife on her dress, and deliberately
made a cross cut into her thigh where the snake had bitten her.
Then, while the blood was spurting from the wound, she called out to
her father who came running to her, knowing by the sound of her
voice that something was the matter. In a few seconds he had torn
his handkerchief into strips and tightly bound the leg above and
below the wound. Then, saddling his horse and one for the wounded
girl, they set off on their twelve mile ride to Newcastle.
You can imagine what that ride was like to Miss Warner, up hill and
down dale as fast as the horses could go, the great gash in her leg
was very agony of pain. It required endurance, nerve, and pluck—
qualities our colonial bush-reared maidens are in no way deficient in.
Her father, too, had a very good reason for letting her ride on
horseback. Snake poison, as is well known, causes sleepiness,
which, if succumbed to, knows no waking. Had Mr. Warner taken her
in a trap, he would not have been able to prevent her from falling
asleep, so had put her upon her horse, hoping to reach Newcastle
before the poison took effect. They had ridden about nine miles
when Miss Warner became very faint, and could scarcely keep her
seat on her horse. Just then they met a young man riding out to the
lake district, and as soon as he heard the state of affairs, he at once
turned his horse round and went back to Newcastle to obtain a
doctor.
Fortunately the doctor was in, he immediately ordered his carriage,
and taking his instrument case and some antidote to counteract the
snake poison, he set out and met Mr. and Miss Warner just outside
the town. He at once helped her off her horse, then she was taken
more dead than alive to the nearest house, and all that medical skill
could do and suggest was done for her, but it was fully three months
before she was able to return home, and then looked a perfect wreck
in comparison to her former robust self. But the brave spirit was in no
way quenched by the suffering she had gone through.
The other brave girl was the daughter of an old boat-builder name
Parrell, who lived on the banks of Lake McQuarrie, with his wife and
his one daughter, Jennie, who was seventeen years of age, and had
been born in the bush of Australia. Like most of the girls reared in the
bush, she was a fearless horse-woman, a strong swimmer, a first-
class shot with a revolver, as cool as a cucumber at all times, and, to
crown all, one of the prettiest girls in those parts, at least I thought
so, and many a young fellow beside, but Jennie would have none of
us, but would laugh and shake her head at our attempts to oust each
other in our efforts to win her favour, but it was all to no purpose,
Jennie remained heart-whole, and we sighed in vain.
The house they lived in was built of weatherboard, and stood at
the mouth of a small creek, where it emptied itself into the lake. All
the rooms were on the ground floor, and were divided by a thin
partition about six feet high, thus making two bedrooms and a good-
sized living room, all furnished very comfortably, the beds used being
the ordinary trestle camp beds. One night I had gone over to try and
get a chat with Jennie—the night was hot and sultry, there was not a
breath of air moving, the day had been one of the hottest we had
had, the mosquitoes were terribly vicious. When I got there I found
that Mrs. Parrell and Jennie, unable to bear the heat and mosquitoes
any longer for that day, had gone to bed under their mosquito
curtains, so Mr. Parrell and I sat on a log outside the cottage door.
There was some satisfaction in being near the object of my
admiration at any rate, and her father always gave me a very hearty
welcome, which was something in my favour, at least I thought so.
They had been in bed about two hours—while we had been yarning
—when Mrs. Parrell heard her daughter quietly calling her.
“What do you want, lassie?” she replied. “Can’t you sleep?”
“No, mother, there is a snake in my bed,” the girl answered. “It is
lying on my naked legs. I dare not move or it will bite me. Tell my
father quick.”
The terrified mother needed no second bidding, springing out of
bed she rushed to the door and told her husband.
“Hush, mother,” he said quietly, laying his hand on her arm, “don’t
make a sound, or you will do more harm than good.” Then quietly he
crept into his own room and speaking softly, said:
“Where is it now, Jennie? Don’t be afraid, lassie.”
“On my stomach, father, and it is working up to my breast,” she
replied in a low tone.
I thought, of course, the father would have rushed into the room,
and at one blow would have killed the reptile. Not so, the old man
had learnt by experience a better way than that.
The door of the bedroom was just at the foot of the girl’s bed, and
any noise, either by opening or shutting it, would have startled the
snake, and, perhaps, made it plunge its poisoned fang into Jennie’s
body, and thus have ended her young happy life, but the father knew
just what to do under the circumstances. Going to a cupboard that
stood in the corner of his room, he took down an old violin, then
crossing, without a sound, over to the end of the room farthest away
from the bed, he drew the bow lightly over the strings making a soft
plaintive sound. The moment the snake heard the noise, it poised its
head up on the girl’s breast, and as the soft plaintive notes floated
about the room it began to wriggle along towards the foot of the bed
in the direction of the sound. The brave girl kept her nerve and
presence of mind marvellously. She knew full well her very life
depended on it, for the slightest movement on her part, while the
snake was on her body, would have been fatal. But as soon as she
felt the snake slip off the bed she sprang up and out of the way. The
snake, when it heard her move, made a dart for a small knot hole in
the planking of the floor, through which it had entered the room, but it
had Jennie to reckon with, and before it could reach it she had
thrown a pillow upon it, then her father rushed in and dispatched it
with a stick, he brought it outside, and we measured it, and found it
was three feet nine inches in length, and was about as thick as a
broom handle. It was a carpet snake, one of the most deadly
enemies to be encountered in bush life. A few minutes afterwards,
Jennie and her mother having dressed, came outside, and I could
not help telling her how much I admired her nerve and courage, and
asked how she knew it was a snake?
“Why because it was so cold and clammy,” she replied, making a
wry face. “A snake is always cold, no matter how hot the place may
be where it gets into.”
The next day I had occasion to go to Newcastle on some business
for Mr. Williams and looked forward with some pleasure to the twelve
mile ride through the bush on the back of old Blunderbuss, a horse
that had once belonged to that king of bushrangers, Captain Morgan,
and after having passed through several people’s hands, had
become the property of Mr. Williams. We had only gone a few miles
on our way, when I began to notice that what little air there was had
an acrid smell about it, and every step it seemed to become more
close and stifling. Blunderbuss, too, began to twitch his ears and
sniff. Then a little farther on the cause of it burst upon me—the bush
was on fire—for a second or two I pulled up, and looking round, to
my amazement the trees near by began to blaze and crackle, and
there I was with fire in the front of me and sweeping along the path
over which I had come. There was nothing to be done but try and get
through to where it was already burnt, so putting spurs to the horse
we began our race for life. Hotter and hotter grew the blast, as I
urged the panting beast forward. Kangaroos leaped out from among
the burning scrub, and fled onward, a greater enemy than man was
upon them. Then a drove of wild horses went madly past, while the
birds shrieked and fluttered above our heads, powerless to help
themselves. Onward, still onward we went, the flames hissing and
crackling over our heads, and still we seemed to be no nearer to the
outlet, no track was visible, and all around was the thick hot air.
Blunderbuss, too, seemed to be pulling in quite an opposite direction,
then it flashed across my mind that perhaps the instinct of the poor
beast would lead us into safety, so giving him his head and hoping
for the best I let him go his own way. In an instant he wheeled almost
round, and sped onward towards what seemed a veritable inferno of
flaming trees, with head outstretched and feet scarce touching the
hot earth he dashed through the blazing mass, and presently to my
joy I saw that he was making for an old bridle path that led around
the cliffs to Newcastle, and thankful I was, for had it not been for the
instinct of Blunderbuss we might both have perished miserably. As
we slackened our speed now that the danger was past, I turned to
look at the sight we were leaving behind. Overhead was a dusky
canopy of thick black smoke, there stood the black bare trees
between us and the still raging fire, farther away the sparks were
dropping from the thick smoke like a hailstorm, then again it looked
like a moving curtain of crimson smoke, with the falling and blazing
twigs and small branches, like coloured fireworks—all blue, red and
yellow, while tongues of flame licked up the dry scrub and grass.
It was a grand sight to look at when you were safely out of it, but
we were both in a sorry state, for our hair was singed and our skin
blistered where the flames had touched us. The next day
Blunderbuss and I returned to Belmont, needless to say we gave the
still burning bush a wide berth, and reached home before nightfall.
The fire was burning for the best part of a week, and when some
weeks afterwards I passed that way again, I marvelled how we had
ever passed through that furnace of flame.
CHAPTER XXI
Widow Smith’s Pig or “Barkis is Willin’”
At Belmont, our next door neighbour, Mrs. Rebecca Smith, lived a

quarter of a mile away, but this was thought little of in the Australian
bush, where, frequently, your nearest neighbour lives five miles off.
Mrs. Smith was a buxom, good-looking widow, and she knew it. She
had a good weatherboard house and a large patch of freehold land,
with a nice well-kept vegetable patch, and she kept a good number
of pigs, which were noted for their size and quality.
Now there was one pig in particular that she took a great pride in,
though, at the same time, it was the plague of her life. It was very
fond of roaming, and would not confine itself to the large paddock
where the stye was placed, but preferred other people’s patches,
especially if they happened to be vegetable patches. It would travel
miles away from home at times; a gate was no obstacle to it—it
would burrow under it in no time—and it was really surprising what a
small hole it would squeeze itself through.
Mrs. Smith’s garden was alongside the main road leading from
Newcastle, New South Wales, to the Wallsend coal mines. The fence
of the garden was a low one, and everyone passing could see how
clean and tidy she kept it. A good number of people passed by on
horseback and in vehicles, and whenever Mrs. Smith heard anybody
coming along, she would stand at the door facing the road and
smilingly bid them good-day. The widow was about forty, strong,
healthy, and fair to look on—her fine, fat, round arms were a sight to
see—and many a man passed the cottage just to catch a glimpse of
the bonny widow standing at the door.
Now, one Saturday evening this torment of a pig got out of the
stockyard, burrowed under the fence, and got into the widow’s
garden patch, where it made terrible havoc of the beds. It turned up
a lot of vegetables, took a bite of a dozen water melons, tore the
bark off several fig-trees, and bit the stem of a lovely passion-fruit
vine right through, killing the plant.
The following morning—Sunday—when Mrs. Smith saw the
damage that had been done, she vowed there and then that the pig
should die. But it could not be found anywhere, until about ten
o’clock she heard it in the bush at the back of the house. She
immediately sent her two young sons and a workman to drive it into
the stockyard, and when they had done so, Mrs. Smith told her son
to get his rifle and shoot the pig at once. The boy slipped into the
house, and returned with the gun in his hands, and made over
towards the pig, who was crunching some turnip.
“Shoot him in the head, Willie,” cried the widow, as she stood in
the gateway to prevent the pig from escaping.
As the boy approached, the pig looked up, and, seeing the shining
barrel pointing at his head, scented danger, and turned right-about
ready to bolt. Just then the boy fired, and the shot entered the pig at
the wrong end. With a piercing squeal and a grunt, it made a dart for
the gate, turning the boy head over heels in its mad rush. Mrs. Smith,
seeing the pig coming straight for the gate, and having no time to
close it, spread out her legs to block the passage with her skirts.
(Mrs. Smith made her own clothes and put good material into them).
The pig, nothing daunted by Mrs. Smith’s presence, made a dash
between her legs, his snout ripped a hole in the skirt, his head went
through, and Mrs. Smith was jerked off her feet, the skirt being
bridled over the pig’s head. The widow fell flat on her face on the
pig’s back, with her head to its tail. Finding herself being dragged
along, she threw her arms around the pig’s body and clipped its neck
with her legs, and held on like grim death, a second Mazeppa.
On dashed the pig squealing, Mrs. Smith screeching, the boys and
the workman yelling as they raced after them. The pig, thinking to
escape his pursuers, left the road and struck into the bush, and soon
the covering was torn off Mrs. Smith’s back by the bushes. But still
the pig rushed on, and still Mrs. Smith held on to the pig, and by this
time quite a number of people had started to follow.
Now, there was no church or chapel at Belmont, but a sprinkling of
people used to gather together and hold a Methodist meeting in a
little school-room where a one-legged schoolmaster taught the
children of the district reading, writing and arithmetic. On Sunday one
of the men read Spurgeon’s sermons out of a book, and each in turn,
as the spirit moved them, prayed loud and long for forgiveness of
their sins which were few, and of their neighbour’s, which were many.
On this particular Sunday morning a local preacher had come from
Minmi to hold service in the little schoolroom. He had opened the
Good Book, wiped his face, coughed, and given out his text: “Repent
ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” He paused for a moment
to let the words take effect. Then, in a sterner and more determined
tone, he repeated the text: “Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand.” There was silence for a moment.
Then an unearthly noise was heard outside. Pig squealing, women
screeching, men shouting. Everyone in the meeting was on his feet
in an instant. If this was the kingdom of heaven—well, they all
seemed mighty scared to meet it. The preacher especially—for he
dropped the Book and made for the door first.
As they all got outside, the pig dashed past with Mrs. Smith on its
back, holding on for dear life, and I do not know which was making
the most noise—Mrs. Smith, or the pig. Few of the neighbours could
recognise the rider as she dashed past, for they were not acquainted
with the features presented to view, but they all took up the chase,
the preacher taking the lead.
The pig was making a bee-line for the tea-tree scrub about a
quarter of a mile from the school-house; but to get to the scrub it had
to cross a small creek about ten yards wide and three feet deep. As
soon as it took the water the weight of its rider turned it completely
over, and so released the skirt from its head. But before it could get
away Mrs. Smith had seized its leg and held its head under water
until help arrived, when one of the men despatched it, and a trap was
sent for to take it home.
And so ended Mrs. Smith’s Sunday morning ride on the pig. But
there was a sequel to it. The local preacher, who witnessed the
famous ride, was apparently struck with the widow’s proportions
where visible, and became very attentive and solicitous for her
welfare. He walked home with her and left his sermon for a future
day, sympathising with her in her trouble, and pouring soothing
unction on her outraged feelings in a true Methodistic manner. The
widow was so pleased with his sympathy and attention that she
invited him to stay to dinner, which invitation the preacher was very
pleased to accept.
During dinner the preacher made himself so very agreeable that
the widow Smith opened her heart to him and told him how very
lonely it was for her at times, since her poor husband died.
“But the dear man left me a good home and fifty acres of freehold
land, so I must not complain,” she added; “only sometimes I do feel it
lonesome.”
And the preacher took it all in with an eye to future events. He had
a nice little store at Minmi, but no land, and he thought how nice it
would be if the two were joined together as one concern.
He did not stay late that day, as he had twenty-seven miles to ride
through the bush to his home at Minmi, but he asked permission to
come again, and this was freely granted.
Very frequently afterwards the preacher was seen riding down to
Widow Smith’s homestead. It was a case of “Barkis is willing” on
both sides.
Although his first view of the widow had been a hasty view, still it
had impressed the preacher so much that he soon persuaded her to
change her name, and the little store at Minmi knew him no more.
I had now been with Mr. Williams at Belmont about twelve months
when the old restless spirit began to take possession of me again.
The sea was calling me, with its wild days of stress and storm, or
hardships and peril, and would not be denied.
When I told Mr. Williams he did his best to dissuade me, but the
call had come, so packing up my belonging’s, which included a good
testimonial from Mr. Williams and a beautiful Bible from Miss
Williams, I said good-bye, and set out for Newcastle, hoping to get a
ship from that port.
CHAPTER XXII
A Dangerous Enterprise
I arrived at Newcastle and was fortunate enough on the first day to

ship as able seaman on the barque “P.C.E.”—Captain Law—bound
for Noumea, New Caledonia, with a cargo of coal. My wages were to
be seven pounds a month: I felt that I had “struck oil” at once for I
had never heard of seamen getting such fabulous wages. I found
out, however, that colonial owners paid good wages, and required
good workers for their money, no limejuice methods would suit the
coast trade. But I was young, strong and healthy, and I got along
famously with both officers and men. Captain Law was as rough and
unpolished a specimen of the British seaman as it was possible to
meet, but a sailor from the crown of his head to the sole of his feet.
The mate was a most illiterate man, coarse in speech and manner,
and proud of his manners, or lack of them, but a good seaman, and
utterly fearless. It was generally believed on board that he would
have gone to sea on a plank if the pay had been good enough.
We had a fine passage of eight days to Noumea, New Caledonia,
which is a penal settlement under the French flag. At Noumea there
are a large number of prisoners both political and criminal out on
parole—many of them are in business and doing well for themselves,
but they cannot, of course, leave the island, and naturally there are
always a number of daring and eager spirits ready and willing to run
any risk to obtain their freedom, if they can get anyone to assist
them. The political prisoners, many of whom are well off, or have
friends who are well supplied with money for such a purpose, are
always on the qui vive for such a chance.
Whilst unloading our cargo, the captain spent most of his time on
shore at one of the saloons. Captain Law was very fond of a glass of
grog when on shore, but, to his credit be it said, he never touched
liquor at sea. One day while at the saloon Captain Law was
approached by a Frenchman named Balliere as to his willingness to
assist some prisoners to escape, and a good round sum was offered
on account of Henri Rochefort, French Communist, who was then on
Ducos Peninsular. Captain Law had heard of the famous journalist
and was rather in sympathy with him, but the sum of ten thousand
francs won his sympathy entirely. This was the sum Henri Rochefort
had offered through Balliere. Captain Law accepted the offer,
stipulating that no other member of the crew should be told for fear of
them informing the officials, by whom a large reward would be paid
for such information. Altogether it was a dangerous undertaking, for
had he failed, or been caught in the act, the vessel would have been
confiscated and all the crew imprisoned, perhaps shot. It was,
therefore, arranged that the exiles should board the vessel
themselves at their own risk, so that in the event of failure the
authorities would not confiscate the vessel. But there was another
side to the question which Captain Law, apparently, had everlooked
—that he was risking the lives and liberty of his officers and crew
without their consent or knowledge, which, in law is a criminal
offence.
There was no difficulty for the three exiles at Noumea—Jourde,
Balliere and Granthille—to get on board the “P.C.E.” They were out
on parole and were in business in Noumea, but for Henri Rochefort,
Oliver Pain and Pascal Grousett, on the Ducos Peninsular, it was a
difficult and dangerous undertaking. But these men were quite
accustomed to dangerous undertakings, their very lives had been
spent among risks and perils, and they were prepared to do or die.
Better far better to die in a struggle for freedom than to live a
hopeless, lingering life, desolate and alone in their sun-scorched
island prison. All of them had wives and families in their beloved
France, and to see their faces again they were prepared to risk all,
feeling that they were bound to be the gainers, whichever way things
went. If they were caught, they would be shot—well, their misery
would be over—if they succeeded they would be free. Free men
again—Oh! how their hearts throbbed at the very thought of it! The
joy of liberty is seldom appreciated until it is lost.
But to return to the exiles on Ducos. It was not possible to
approach the bay in a boat without being seen by the sentry on duty.
Now, just off the peninsula there was a small volcanic rock about one
mile from the beach and in a line between Noumea and the Bay of
Ducos. On the side facing Ducos was a mass of coral reefs, the
other side had a bit of sandy beach, on which the surf breaks heavily
at times. The waters around the island were infested with sharks,
this, to those in authority, greatly lessening the possibility of
prisoners escaping.
Now on the day the barque “P.C.E.” finished unloading at Noumea,
Balliere had sent word to Henri Rochefort that a boat would be off
the rock at 8 p.m., and he and his two friends Oliver Pain and Pascal
Grousett were to make their way to the rock. All that day they had
been talking about it, and as they talked the great ugly sharks were
lazily swimming about in front of them, a sight that was enough to
make the stoutest heart quail and quake. Yet, in spite of this, they
resolved to swim out to the rock when the time came.
As night drew near the exiles grew anxious lest anything should
happen that would defeat their plans, and towards 7 o’clock their
hearts sank, for the sky grew dark and threatening, and a fierce
tropical storm broke over their heads, the thunder, lightning and rain
being truly terrific, while it lasted. But strange though it may seem,
although the exiles at the time did not realize it, the storm was a
Godsend to them. First it drove the lookout sentries in, and secondly
no fish will remain near the surface during thunder and lightning, they
always sink to the still calm water below. Thus were the exiles
spared a battle with these monsters of the deep. Just before 8
o’clock they stripped and walked down to the beach. But here a fresh
difficulty presented itself. The night was so dark they could not see
the rock, but there was no time to hesitate, somewhere out there lay
the means that was to help them to regain their freedom, so into the
water they went. Rochefort, ever a leader, first, and they struck out in
the direction they knew the rock to be. After swimming for some time,
expecting every moment to find themselves in the jaws of a shark,
and seeing no signs of the rock, their hearts began to sink for fear
they had missed it, then suddenly they found themselves among the
kelp on the reef, so with thankful hearts they landed and crawled
around to the other side.
They had only just got there, when the sound of muffled rowing fell
upon their ears. Holding their breath they waited, for perhaps they
had already been missed, and the sound they heard might be the
guard boat. They did not know if it were friend or foe. Presently a
voice called out cautiously.
“Are you there?”
They were afraid to answer for fear they had been followed, and
the voice seemed strange to them.
Again out of the darkness came a voice:
“Are you there? It is I, Granthille!”
Thus assured that it was the voice of a friend the three fugitives
replied, and were told to swim out to the boat as there was too much
swell on the reef to risk taking the boat inside. This they did, and
were soon assisted into the boat, and supplied with dry clothes. Few
words were spoken, their hearts were too full for words, and there
was still dangerous work before them, this was but the first step
towards freedom. But a silent clasp of the hand was given, and
understood by all.
The boat was at once headed for Noumea. The darkness was
intense, but a faint glimmer of the harbour lights could be seen. Do
what they would, they could not prevent a long phosphorescent light
streaming behind the boat, and as the night was so black, this
brilliant light was very conspicuous and might possibly betray them to
any observant watcher. Their whole souls were full of doubt and fear
and racked with anxiety as to the issue of the attempt, for more than
one of them had resolved never to return alive to their late prison.
As the boat drew near to the vessels they had a truly marvellous
escape from detection, but thanks to a heavy downpour of rain,
which drove all watchers into shelter. Before leaving Noumea with
the boat, Balliere had strolled down to the harbour and taken note of
the position of the vessels, and the “P.C.E.” in particular to enable
them to find her in the dark, but during the short storm the wind had
changed, and had altered the position of the vessels at anchor,
bringing a small French despatch-boat into the position previously
occupied by the “P.C.E.” The Frenchmen, not being seamen, did not
notice the change, and pulled over alongside the French boat. One
of the exiles actually had his foot on the ladder to climb on board,
when they heard voices above them speaking in French. At once
they realized the extreme danger that threatened them: with faces
sternly set, but with their hearts in their mouths as it were, for they
scarcely dared to breathe, they let the boat drop quietly astern, not
knowing whether they had been seen or heard. Lightly they dipped
their muffled oars and rowed over to the next vessel, which proved to
be the one they were seeking. The side ladder was hanging over the
side, quickly and quietly the exiles climbed on board. The steward
was on deck aft and stared with astonishment at the six big fellows
as they came over the rail. Before any explanation could be asked or
given, Captain Law made his appearance, the steward was ordered
to his room, and the captain pointed to the after hold, where the
fugitives all defended and stowed themselves away among a lot of
old ropes, tarpaulins and cargo gear. The hatch was closed, but
afterwards re-opened to disarm suspicion, should an official by
chance come off. The only persons who knew the escaped prisoners
were on board were Captain Law, the steward and myself, as I was
keeping anchor watch. The plug of the boat was taken out, and a
quantity of stone ballast that had been hoisted on deck during the
afternoon, was put into her and she was sunk alongside the ship. It
was not safe to let the boat go adrift, suspicion would have been
aroused, and a muster of prisoners ordered, and then all hope of
getting away would vanish.
At daylight the pilot came off to take the vessel out, but
unfortunately the wind had died away and he refused to get the ship
under weigh. The delay in sailing was very serious. Both Captain
Law and the fugitives were in a terrible state of anxiety and
suspense, expecting every moment a search party would come off to
overhaul the vessel. Up to the present the alarm gun on the hill had
not been fired, so far we knew that the escape of the prisoners had
not been discovered, but at the same time we also knew that the
moment the escape was discovered the signal gun would be fired
and that no vessel would be able to leave port without being
searched.
At noon a breeze sprang up, but it was in the wrong quarter to
enable us to get through the usual passage in the reef, however,
Captain Law insisted on the pilot taking the vessel out of the harbour,
so the anchor was lifted and we stood out towards the entrance.
Once outside, the pilot was dismissed and we made all sail, and with
a fair wind steered for the Balearic Channel, coasting along the
Ducos Peninsular, where the poor exiles had spent so many weary
months of imprisonment. As the evening drew on the wind increased,
and before dark we had cleared the coast and waters of New
Caledonia.
The captain then called the Frenchmen on deck and told them that
thus far they were free. Henri Rochefort was the first to come on
deck, and a more pitiable looking object it would have been hard to
find. He stood quite six feet in height and was as thin as a lath, with a
long head and a very prominent forehead. The only clothes he wore
were an old pair of pants, a shirt, and a seaman’s sou’wester on his
conspicuous head, and he was covered from head to foot with coal
dust from the vessel’s hold, where they had been lying concealed. I
doubt if his best friends would have recognised, in the miserable-
looking object before them, the most famous French journalist of the
day, whose writings and doings had stirred France to the core. They
were all more or less suffering from sea-sickness, and were taken
into the cabin to have a clean up and make themselves presentable.
There was only one who could speak a few words of English, but the
warm clasp of the hand and the happy look in their eyes spoke
volumes of gratitude for their deliverance.
All through the following day the strong north-east wind kept up,
and running before the breeze with every stitch of canvas set, we
soon put a good distance between us and the Island. The crew did
nothing but work the ship and keep a lookout for overtaking vessels.
The only one we were afraid of was the despatch-boat that we left at
anchor at Noumea when we sailed.
The second and third day remained hazy with a strong wind. The
exiles rarely left the deck, but would pace to and fro for hours, so
anxious and fearful were they of recapture. All day long they would
scan the horizon, their lips muttering the thoughts that would not be
kept back, thoughts of home and loved ones. Surely fate would not

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Mathematics Education in Brazil

Panorama of Current Research

Handbook of international research in mathematics

A Contemporary Theory of Mathematics Education Research

Social and Political Dimensions of Mathematics

Traditions in German Speaking Mathematics Education

Designing, Conducting, and Publishing Quality Research

Adolescent Health and Wellbeing Current Strategies and

Current Trends in Landscape Research Lothar Mueller

Scripting Approaches in Mathematics Education :

ISBN 978-3-319-93454-9 ISBN 978-3-319-93455-6 (eBook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018949607

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

This book aims to present a panorama of research in mathematics education devel-

become a triannual event, the International Seminar of Research in Mathematics

The 6th International Seminar of Research in Mathematics Education (SIPEM

Santo André, SP, Brazil Alessandro Jacques Ribeiro

1 To Think in a New Way in Mathematics Education ���������������������������� 1

8 Mathematics Teacher Education: Synthesis and Perspectives

Lourdes Maria Werle de Almeida Universidade Estadual de Londrina, Londrina,

Jader Otávio Dalto Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Cornélio

Maria Cristina Araújo de Oliveira Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora, Juiz de

We have to learn to think in a new way. … There lies before us,

Abstract In this chapter, mathematics educators are encouraged to think about a

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 1

Right at the beginning of my career as a mathematician, I was impressed by the

In other writings, I have asked for a new thinking in mathematics education. My

Mathematicians and mathematics educators are among those invited to partici-

1.2  he State of the World and Mathematics

Mathematician Mikhail Gromov, the 2009 Abel Prize laureate, says:

As mathematics educators, we must be aware of this endorsement and all the

The challenging problems require, besides new mathematical techniques, the

The mediation of mathematics and the other sciences is a fundamental theme.

In mathematics education, to approximate mathematics to the sciences is to show

Rather than proposing a shortcut, Moore proposes restoring mathematics educa-

1.3  New Approach to Mathematics and Mathematics

A new mathematics depends, of course, on basic mathematics. But to what extent

is irrelevant. It is important to step, rapidly, into new styles of mathematics. The

• To promote citizenship, which prepares the individual to be integrated and pro-

Responsible governance should look carefully at the disequilibrium among prep-

Education for all leads to an extraordinary expansion of people going to school

1.4  athematics and Mathematics Education in a Changing

Mathematics is a fascinating cultural endeavor. It is seen as the imprint of rationality

When looking at mathematics education, we may identify two positions:

ment. To face this challenge, research must be transcultural and transdisciplinarian

Snake Stories—Two Brave Girls

Widow Smith’s Pig or “Barkis is Willin’”

At Belmont, our next door neighbour, Mrs. Rebecca Smith, lived a

I arrived at Newcastle and was fortunate enough on the first day to

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1 To Think in a New Way in Mathematics Education �� 1

8 Mathematics Teacher Education: Synthesis and Perspectives

1.2 he State of the World and Mathematics

1.3 New Approach to Mathematics and Mathematics

1.4 athematics and Mathematics Education in a Changing