Concreteness and Abstraction in Mathematics Education: A Taxonomy of the Semantic Landscape

Artigo2025

Julia Chatain ORCID; Charlotte H. Müller ORCID; Keny Chatain ORCID; Leon Calabrese ORCID; Manu Kapur ORCID

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Resumo

Concreteness and abstraction are key in educational research in mathematics, both when discussing the nature of mathematics in itself, but also when exploring how to learn and teach mathematics. However, while the terms "concrete" and "abstract" are often used in the field, they are not always used with the same meaning. For example, the word "concrete" can be used to mean "specific," "relatable," "visual," and "tangible," while the word "abstract" can be used as "general," "rigorous," "vague," and "symbolic." While several scholars have emphasized the need for a multidimensional and fine-grained framework to articulate these differences in meaning, we further argue that it is crucial to precisely define how the terms "concrete" and "abstract" are actually used by the research community. Towards this goal, we offer three contributions. First, we empirically and systematically identify the various meanings of "concrete" and "abstract" used in the literature. Second, we offer a data-informed taxonomy to organize this semantic landscape and support research inquiry. And third, we offer templates for the design of future mathematics education interventions and studies.

Dados da obra

Tipo: Artigo
Periódico: Educational Psychology Review, v. 37, n. 4
Editora: Springer Science+Business Media
Ano: 2025 (2025-09-17)
Idioma: en
Palavras-chave: Literature Reviews; Mathematics Education; Language Usage; Mathematical Concepts; Definitions; Taxonomy; Word Frequency; concreteness; abstraction; conceptual definitions
DOI: 10.1007/s10648-025-10073-9
ISSN: 1040-726X, 1573-336X
Licença: cc-by
Acesso: Acesso aberto
Fontes: ERIC — Education Resources Information Center; OpenAlex
Na Biblioteca desde: 01/10/2026 · verificada em 03/10/2026

Como citar

ABNT
CHATAIN, Julia et al.. Concreteness and Abstraction in Mathematics Education: A Taxonomy of the Semantic Landscape. Educational Psychology Review, v. 37, n. 4, 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10073-9.

APA

Chatain, J., Müller, C. H., Chatain, K., Calabrese, L., & Kapur, M. (2025). Concreteness and Abstraction in Mathematics Education: A Taxonomy of the Semantic Landscape. Educational Psychology Review, 37(4). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-025-10073-9

BibTeX

@article{chatain2025,
  author = {Chatain, Julia and Müller, Charlotte H. and Chatain, Keny and Calabrese, Leon and Kapur, Manu},
  title = {Concreteness and Abstraction in Mathematics Education: A Taxonomy of the Semantic Landscape},
  year = {2025},
  journal = {Educational Psychology Review},
  volume = {37},
  number = {4},
  publisher = {Springer Science+Business Media},
  doi = {10.1007/s10648-025-10073-9},
  language = {en}
}

RIS

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Chatain, Julia
AU  - Müller, Charlotte H.
AU  - Chatain, Keny
AU  - Calabrese, Leon
AU  - Kapur, Manu
TI  - Concreteness and Abstraction in Mathematics Education: A Taxonomy of the Semantic Landscape
PY  - 2025
JO  - Educational Psychology Review
VL  - 37
IS  - 4
DO  - 10.1007/s10648-025-10073-9
LA  - en
ER  -

Referência gerada automaticamente a partir dos metadados das fontes; confira com o documento original. Baixar BibTeX · Baixar RIS