The phenomenology of the mathematics classroom

This paper describes the mathematics classroom from the perspective of social phenomenology. Here the classroom is seen as an environment of signs, comprising things and people, which impinge on the reality of the individual child. The paper introduces a framework through which mathematical work is seen as taking place in the imagined world through the filter of the world in immediate perception. This provides an approach to structuring evolving mathematical understanding. It is suggested that mathematical ideas are contained and shaped by the child's personal phenomenology, which evolves through time. Further, I argue these ideas are never encountered directly but rather are met through a circular hermeneutic process of reconciling expectation with experience. © 1996 Kluwer Academic Publishers

Does Personality Type Affect Teachers’ Information Systems Utilization in Pedagogy? The Makerere University Lecturers’ Experience

International audienceThis article reports on personality types and their influence on lecturers’ information systems utilization in pedagogy in Makerere University. Findings are drawn from analyses of data that was collected from 244 lecturers who were purposively selected from six faculties. A self administered questionnaire, standardized tests, analytical interviews and inferential analyses were done by using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Student –t test techniques. Findings indicate that as lecturers’ personality type preferences change, their attitudes and actual utilisation of information systems also change. Reasons that explain significant variation in both attitude and actual utilisation of specific MISs basing on particular bi-polar personalty type dimensions are given, as the article also suggests appropiate Information system tools and integration strategies that should be adopted in pedagogy by this oldest and biggest university in Uganda