Perceiving and creating in the mathematics classroom: A case-study in the early years.

This paper draws on recent research on the theorizing of embodiment in mathematics thinking and learning to adopt a non-dualist perspective that challenges the view that mathematical concepts cannot be perceived and created. This perspective brings out the intensive and immersive aspects of mathematical activity that feed the potential and the mobile in the classroom. Through the analysis of two 8-year old children, who reason on a figural pattern, I show how their ways of talking, mov- ing and feeling allows them to mobilise and invent the mathematics they are learning. In so doing, I propose that perceiving is conceiving and creating is learning.