Publications

Publication details [#12649]

Mpoukis, George. 2012. The cognitive science of Embodied Mathematics (Η Γνωσιακή Επιστήμη των Ενσώματων Μαθηματικών). The Journal for Open and Distance Education and Educational Technology 8 (1) : 29–43. 15 pp.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
Greek
Place, Publisher
Open Education
ISBN
17919312

Abstract

This paper explores the embodied character of mathematical understanding. It supports that the various findings from the fields of psychology, philosophy and pedagogy have enhanced mathematical thinking because mathematics has endorsed the idea that the sensory-motor properties of the human body play a crucial role in mathematical activity. In fact, certain mathematical ideas and axioms are based on sensory-motor experience. More specifically, the research embraces the concept of conceptual metaphor and its role in the formation of mathematical meanings. In this way, the study attempts to link the formal and the intuitive aspects of mathematics. The work of Lakoff & Núñez (2000) is taken into account in order to discuss the Archimedes’ treatise on the quadrature of the parabola (Archimedes' "Method"), within the scope of geometry.