Doing Mathematics

Abstract

Learning mathematics is a way of acting. Mathematics is something that you do, not just something you know. Yet what it means to do mathematics can depend upon the norms and sociomathematical norms in each classroom. In turn, what it means to do mathematics in a classroom affects what it means to be a student or a teacher of mathematics. This doing of mathematics can be about communicating and problem solving, or it can be about remembering and knowing. Similarly, what it means to explain, argue, or justify varies between classrooms and the opportunities for students to do mathematics are constrained by what it means to do mathematics in each and every mathematics classroom.