Lived Problems and Mathematical Initiation

The moment of inventing problems is an important part of group mathematics work: a collective and intimate moment of creation, elaboration, and inquiry that becomes an object of socialization and exchange. The approach to mathematics, like other disciplines (see free text, journal writing, and correspondence), follows the principles of natural learning methods. Experimental trial and error, and the freedom to invent and construct personal strategies, allow the student to translate, interpret, and build the laws of language (here, the mathematical language) and their relationship to the world: how to see, read, and question the real world, how to develop a singular voice that uses mathematical language to create a “free mathematical text.”