The Theory of Objectification

The Theory of Objectification: A Vygotskian Perspective on Knowing and Becoming in Mathematics Teaching and Learning presents a new educational theory in which learning is considered a cultural-historical collective process. The theory moves away from current conceptions of learning that focus on the construction or acquisition of conceptual contents. Its starting point is that schools do not produce only knowledge; they produce subjectivities too. As a result, learning is conceptualised as a process that is about knowing and becoming.

Drawing on the work of Vygotsky and Freire, the theory of objectification offers a perspective to transform classrooms into sites of communal life where students make the experience of an ethics of solidarity, responsibility, plurality, and inclusivity. It posits the goal of education in general, and mathematics education in particular, as a political, societal, historical, and cultural endeavour aimed at the dialectical creation of reflexive and ethical subjects who critically position themselves in historically and culturally constituted mathematical discourses and practices, and who ponder new possibilities of action and thinking. The book is of special interest to educators in general and mathematics educators in particular, as well as to graduate and undergraduate students.

Luis Radford is a full professor at Laurentian University in Canada. His research focuses on the teaching and learning of mathematics from a cultural-historical perspective, and education as a transformative societal process. He conducts classroom research with primary and high school teachers.