[...]... understanding of how a person experiences transitions between different contexts which require either learning or uses of mathematical knowledge In this chapter Abreu suggests that the study of transitions between practices represents a third wave in the way relationships between learning and cultural practices are examined The chapter starts with an outline of the notions of ‘cultural practices and... their practices in different contexts, the institutional and sociocultural framing of transition processes, and the communication and negotiation of mathematical meanings during transition The goals of this book then are twofold Firstly it aims to offer relevant samples of empirical work which help to identify crucial features and dynamics of the experience of transition in different contexts of mathematical. .. the research will give us some insights into role transitions necessary for progressive movement within a practice, our main interests lie in clarifying the experience of transitions between contexts of learning and using mathematics; between contexts for different mathematical practices In our work the reference to contexts sometimes acquires a status of site, which can be physically located Home, school,... Bronfenbrenner’s notions that transitions can occur between settings or between roles, and using Beach’s categories of transition, we will consider in this book various aspects of the transition experience arising from: Lateral transitions, where individuals move between two related practices in a single direction The situation of immigrant students in mainstream schools is an example of this type of transition,... readers to evaluate the general validity of the ideas the group has generated 2.1 THE EMERGENCE OF THE NOTION OF ‘TRANSITION’ AS AN INTEREST OF THE GROUP The focus on understanding how participation in home mathematical practices that are distinct from school mathematical practices impacts on the learner has been central to the research of most of the contributors of this book for quite a long time (see... Presmeg (eds.), Transitions Between Contexts of Mathematical Practices, 7–21 © 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers Printed in Great Britain 7 8 GUIDA DE ABREU, ALAN BISHOP, NORMA PRESMEG For example, recent studies have: documented the wealth of mathematical knowledge accumulated over history by specific cultural groups, identified relationships between logical and social organisation of specific cultural... intention of keeping him up with the standard of the home culture? In choosing these vignettes our aims are firstly to introduce some lived experiences of learners which help to justify the need that we address in this book to understand their transitions between contexts of mathematical practices Secondly, we would EDITORS’ PRELUDE 3 like to call attention to the fact that despite the advances of sociocultural... concept found in the subject index of general developmental psychology books One of the key criticisms of stage theories was the lack of clear accounts of the passage from one stage to another, i.e how the transitions took place An exception to this type of treatment of the concept of transition appeared in Urie Bronfenbrenner’s (1979) perspective on the ecology of human development He proposed that... experiences during transitions between contexts In all of the empirical chapters of this book, mathematical meanings with their symbolisations are intertwined with sociocultural meanings in the experiences of those participating in transitions In many cases these personal meanings influence the 20 GUIDA DE ABREU, ALAN BISHOP, NORMA PRESMEG construction of the self-images – the very identities – of those involved... collateral transitions involve persons moving between pre-existing social activities Encompassing and mediational transitions have persons moving within the boundaries of a single activity or into the creation of a new activity’ (p 114) His typology will be very useful in this book, so let us clarify his categories of consequential transitions 1 Lateral transitions – occur when an individual moves between . at the end of this volume. Transitions Between Contexts of Mathematical Practices Edited by Guida de Abreu Department of Psychology, University of Luton,.