Increasingly, companies are taking part in process improvement programmes, which brings about a growing need for employees to interpret and act on data representations. We have carried out case studies in a range of companies to identify the existence and need of what we call 'techno-mathematical literacies' (TmL): functional mathematical knowledge mediated by tools and grounded in the context of specific work situations. Based on data gathered from a large biscuit manufacturing and packaging company, we focus our analysis here on semiotic mediation within activity systems and identify two sets of related TmL: the first concerns rendering some invisible aspects visible through the production of mathematical signs; the second concerns developing meanings for action from an interpretation of these signs. We conclude with some more general observations concerning the role that mathematical signs play in the workplace.
%0 Journal Article
%1 bakkerarthur2006improving
%A Bakker, Arthur
%A Hoyles, Celia
%A Kent, Phillip
%A Noss, Richard
%B 4
%C Routledge
%D 2006
%J Journal of Education and Work
%K activity activitytheory boundary boundaryobjects eLPBookMor learning mathematics objects theory work
%P 343 - 361
%T Improving work processes by making the invisible visible
%U http://www.informaworld.com/10.1080/13639080600867133
%V 19
%X Increasingly, companies are taking part in process improvement programmes, which brings about a growing need for employees to interpret and act on data representations. We have carried out case studies in a range of companies to identify the existence and need of what we call 'techno-mathematical literacies' (TmL): functional mathematical knowledge mediated by tools and grounded in the context of specific work situations. Based on data gathered from a large biscuit manufacturing and packaging company, we focus our analysis here on semiotic mediation within activity systems and identify two sets of related TmL: the first concerns rendering some invisible aspects visible through the production of mathematical signs; the second concerns developing meanings for action from an interpretation of these signs. We conclude with some more general observations concerning the role that mathematical signs play in the workplace.
@article{bakkerarthur2006improving,
abstract = {Increasingly, companies are taking part in process improvement programmes, which brings about a growing need for employees to interpret and act on data representations. We have carried out case studies in a range of companies to identify the existence and need of what we call 'techno-mathematical literacies' (TmL): functional mathematical knowledge mediated by tools and grounded in the context of specific work situations. Based on data gathered from a large biscuit manufacturing and packaging company, we focus our analysis here on semiotic mediation within activity systems and identify two sets of related TmL: the first concerns rendering some invisible aspects visible through the production of mathematical signs; the second concerns developing meanings for action from an interpretation of these signs. We conclude with some more general observations concerning the role that mathematical signs play in the workplace. },
added-at = {2009-07-21T11:48:00.000+0200},
address = {Routledge},
author = {Bakker, Arthur and Hoyles, Celia and Kent, Phillip and Noss, Richard},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2c45742225a99489137e60a162b97205d/yish},
interhash = {1ced22874f01ac4156f9756463d6a158},
intrahash = {c45742225a99489137e60a162b97205d},
issn = {1363-9080},
journal = {Journal of Education and Work},
keywords = {activity activitytheory boundary boundaryobjects eLPBookMor learning mathematics objects theory work},
pages = {343 - 361},
series = 4,
timestamp = {2010-05-28T18:51:59.000+0200},
title = {Improving work processes by making the invisible visible},
url = {http://www.informaworld.com/10.1080/13639080600867133},
volume = 19,
year = 2006
}