Overview

This groundbreaking book analyzes contemporary education discourse in the light of curriculum politics and popular culture, using sources ranging from academic scholarship to popular magazines, music video, film and television game shows. Mathematics is used as an ""extreme case,"" since it is a discipline so easily accepted as separable from politics, ethics or the social construction of knowledge. Appelbaum's juxtaposition of popular culture, public debate and professional practice enables an examination of the production and mediation of ""common sense"" distinctions between school mathematics and the world outside of schools. Terrain ordinarily displaced or excluded by traditional education literature becomes the pendulum for a new conversation which merges research and practice while discarding pre-conceived categories of understanding The book also serves as an entertaining introduction to emerging theories in cultural studies, progressively illustrating the uses of discourse analysis for comprehending ideology, the implications of power/knowledge links, professional practice as a technology of power, and curriculum as at once commodities and cultural resources. In this way, Appelbaum effectively reveals a direction for teachers, students and researchers to cooperatively form a community attentive to the politics of curriculum and popular culture.

Full Product Details

Author:   Peter M. Appelbaum
Publisher:   State University of New York Press
Imprint:   State University of New York Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.454kg
ISBN:  

9780791422700

ISBN 10:   0791422704
Pages:   309
Publication Date:   26 April 1995
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General/trade ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments 0. Introduction Opening Why is this Chapter 0? The Prospectus Mass Culture and Critical Pedagogy Introduction Power! Reading Popular Culture 1. The Best Teacher in America Everything Depends on the Teacher The Teacher as Myth Teacher as Signifier Teacher as Hero Escalante: The Best Teacher in America Unraveling the Myth Mathematics Teacher Why Does Everything Depend on the Teacher? 2. Ezekiel Saw the Wheel: Problem Solving on and Off TV The Opposition of Method and Content Precedent: Professional Knowledge Overrides Teacher Personality Teachers as Epistemological Metaphors Philosophies of Mathematics Hide the Social Pedagogy and Popular Culture Game Shows Hit the Jackpot Games and Schools Probability and Profit Problems and Problem Solving Imitators and Echoes Numbers and Money The Transformation of Problem Solving 3. Gender and the Construction of Social Problems Gender as a Social Problem Gender and Sex A Political Context Liberal Feminist Research: A Professional Context Gender as News Coda -1. Consumer Culture: Power and the Identity Politics of Mathematics Education From Critical Literacy to Popular Culture Mathematics as a Cultural Resource Danger Homage to Whitty and Young For(e)ward Epilogue/Prologue Notes Bibliography Index

Reviews

"""The book deals with important and far-reaching issues in a way that is original, stimulating, and very accessible; it succeeds in linking widely divergent fields of study-math education and cultural studies-in a way that provokes fresh questions and rethinking of received ideas. A considerable strength of this book is that it's a lively, engaging work, at once playful and serious. While it is theoretically sophisticated, it is not freighted with jargon and pretentious rhetoric."" - Paul Farber, Western Michigan University ""There is a wonderful combination of critical theory and sources drawn from popular culture. The approach is lively, while at the same time insightful. The book is an academic page-turner. Provocative and groundbreaking, this book opens up a significant line of inquiry for mathematics education-an important contribution to the field."" - Eugene F. Provenzo Jr., University of Miami"

The book deals with important and far-reaching issues in a way that is original, stimulating, and very accessible; it succeeds in linking widely divergent fields of study-math education and cultural studies-in a way that provokes fresh questions and rethinking of received ideas. A considerable strength of this book is that it's a lively, engaging work, at once playful and serious. While it is theoretically sophisticated, it is not freighted with jargon and pretentious rhetoric. - Paul Farber, Western Michigan University There is a wonderful combination of critical theory and sources drawn from popular culture. The approach is lively, while at the same time insightful. The book is an academic page-turner. Provocative and groundbreaking, this book opens up a significant line of inquiry for mathematics education-an important contribution to the field. - Eugene F. Provenzo Jr., University of Miami

Author Information

Peter M. Appelbaum is Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction at the William Paterson College of New Jersey.

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