Language Game of School Math

这项针对日本小学“学校数学语言游戏”的研究显示，几乎所有的小学生都计算并解决了诸如“有四个苹果和八个橘子，乘以它们就可以得到答案”这样的奇怪问题，尽管事先被告知问卷中可能会有一些奇怪的问题。显然，他们很少关注给定的应用题的真实性，他们认为数学问题只有通过遵循程序才能解决，他们认为解决数学问题永远不需要现实，因为那些只是“数学问题”。这些事实表明，这项被称为“学校数学”的游戏是如何以及为了什么而得以维持的。尼泊尔的比较研究数据与这些数据形成了对比。尼泊尔店主和农民的数学与小学生的不同。例如，对不切实际的数学应用题的主要反应是“Punya Bahadur买了3头水牛。一头水牛值6美分。Punya花多少钱买了3头水牛？”笑着指出它的成本太低了。解决数学问题的方法也不同于学生的方法。当有人遇到问题时，他周围的人会聚集在一起共同解决问题。通过对尼泊尔和日本小学数学应用活动的比较分析，发现尼泊尔和日本小学的数学应用活动都有各自不同的解决程序和工具。上述事实表明，数学的认知过程是通过参与一定的实践共同体并作为该共同体的一员与社会文化情境相互作用而被社会性建构的。

This research that focused upon the 'language game of school math' in the Japanese elementary school showed that almost all the pupils calculated and solved queer problems like "There are four apples and eight oranges. Multiply them and get the answer.," although it was informed in advance that there may be some queer problems in the questionnaire. It is clear that they give very little attention to the reality of given word problems, they think that the math problems can be solved only by following the procedure, and they believe that they never need to be realistic to solve math problems because those are only 'math problems.' These facts shows how and for what this game that is called 'school math' maintained.The data of the comparative research in Nepal are contrastive to those. Math of shopkeepers and farmers in Nepal is different from that of elementary schoolers'. For example, the major response to the unrealistic math word problems like "Punya Bahadur bought 3 buffalos. One buffalo costs 6 cents. How much did Punya pay for 3 buffalos?" is laughing and pointing out that it costs too low. The way of solving math problems are also different from that of schoolers'. When someone was given problem, peoples around him gathered to solve it collectively. This means that it is unnatural situation for them to solve problem individually.The comparative analysis of math using activity between Nepal and Japanese elementary school shows that both kinds of math has its own solving procedures and tools that had developed in different ways. The facts above mentioned shows that the cognitive process of math is socially constructed through participating certain community of practice and interacting as a member of such a community with socio-cultural situation.