Mathematikdidaktik: Die Erforschung theoretischen Wissens in sozialen Kontexten des Lernens und Lehrens

The problem of “defining” mathematics education as a proper scientific discipline has been discussed controversely for more than 20 years now. The paper tries to clarify some important aspects especially for answering the question of what makes mathematics education a specific scientific discipline and a field of research. With this aim in mind the following two dimensions are investigated: On the one hand, one has to be aware that mathematics is not “per se” the object of research in mathematics education, but that mathematical knowledge always has to be regarded as being “situated” within a social context. This means that mathematical knowledge only gains its specific epistemological meaning within a social context and that the development and understanding of mathematical knowledge is strongly influenced by the social context. On the other hand the specificity of the theory-practice-problem poses an essential demand on the scientific work in mathematics education.