Street Mathematics and School Mathematics

by Terezinha Nunes, Analucia Schliemann, David Carraher

People who learn to solve problems 'on the job' often have to do it differently from people who learn in theory. Practical knowledge and theoretical knowledge is different in some ways but similar in other ways - or else one would end up with wrong solutions to the problems. Mathematics is also like this. People who learn to calculate, for example, because they are involved in commerce frequently have a more practical way of doing mathematics than the way we are taught at school. This book is about the differences between what we call practical knowledge of mathematics - that is street mathematics - and mathematics learned in school, which is not learned in practice. The authors look at the differences between these two ways of solving mathematical problems and discuss their advantages and disadvantages. They also discuss ways of trying to put theory and practice together in mathematics teaching.

180 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 1993

About the author

Terezinha Nunes is a British-Brazilian clinical psychologist and academic, specialising in children's literacy and numeracy, and deaf children's learning. Since 2005, she has been Professor of Educational Studies at the University of Oxford and a Fellow of Harris Manchester College, Oxford.
Nunes previously taught at the Federal University of Minas Gerais, and the University of Pernambuco; both in Brazil. She then moved to the United Kingdom where she taught at the Institute of Education, University of London (rising to be Professor of Education, Child Development and Learning), and at Oxford Brookes University (as Professor of Psychology and Head of Department). She then moved to the University of Oxford.