Young Philosophers: Fifth-Grade Students Animating the Concept of Space
In many schools across the world, students experience mathematical concepts as ideas empty of wisdom and possibility. In this paper the authors analyze a philosophical conversation in which fifth-grade students were caught up in the animacy of the concept of space. Challenging the common view of mathematics as dealing with absolute truths and certainty, these students, the materials, and the concept itself formed dynamic assemblages that, through movement and the senses reanimated philosophical considerations regarding the concept of space.
In many schools across the world, students experience mathematical concepts as ideas empty of wisdom and possibility. In this paper the authors analyze a philosophical conversation in which fifth-grade students were caught up in the animacy of the concept of space. Challenging the common view of mathematics as dealing with absolute truths and certainty, these students, the materials, and the concept itself formed dynamic assemblages that, through movement and the senses reanimated philosophical considerations regarding the concept of space.