Realistic Mathematics Education of Hans Freudenthal as a subversion proposal to the leftovers from Modern Mathematics Movement in Brazil

Abstract

In this article, we intend to discuss Hans Freudenthal's criticisms of the Modern Mathematics Movement and present the main elements pointed out by the author (and by other members of the Freudenthal Institute) to subvert the structuralist practices of mathematics teaching. This movement emerged in the late 1950s under the influence of study groups that discussed curriculum in mathematics teaching, with a focus on changes only in content and without concern for some didactic issues. The main source of the research is the articles and books published by Hans Freudenthal in English, available from different inventories made. We chose to work with systematic literature review, with a systematically constituted corpus. It was possible to observe that Freudenthal's criticisms of the Modern Mathematics Movement are based on how the movement was implemented and on the (mathematical and didactical) premises assumed by the followers of the movement.