There is, now, an extensive critical literature on gender and the nature of science three aspects of which, philosophy, pedagogy and epistemology, seem to be pertinent to a discussion of gender and mathematics. Although untangling the inter-relationships between these three is no simple matter, they make effective starting points in order to ask similar questions of mathematics to those asked by our colleagues in science. In the process of asking such questions, a major difference between the empirical approach of the sciences, and the analytic nature of mathematics, is exposed and leads towards the definition of a new epistemological position in mathematics.
The paper explores the background and implementation of a project in which school students researched the factors which affect the decision to remain at school or leave at 16. The two major concerns of the project were equity and access to higher education. It was the result of a collaboration between researchers from the University of Birmingham, school teachers and school students. A critique is offered of the method of students as researchers focusing upon five main issues, organisation, time, equity, research style and clashing cultures. 0141-1296/95/050561-15
A theoretical model describing coming to know mathematics was matched against the descriptions gathered from interviews with 70 practising research mathematicians. The model proved to be a good framework for understanding their epistemological practices and a number of pedagogical implications of wider application are drawn from the results.
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