A Practice Model to Analyze the Social Process of Academic Institutionalization of Mathematical Knowledge

The transition process of mathematical knowledge, since its conception and development by mathematicians to its diffusion in the classroom, has been studied by several authors and from different perspectives of Mathematics Education. This article describes a theoretical and methodological framework to analyze this process, which we call the social process of institutionalization, focusing on the practices of the actors involved in each of its moments. The model is developed from the socio-epistemological perspective and relies on the theory of discourse analysis as a social action to study school mathematical discourse. In particular, it is developed the way the theoretical and methodological framework was used to analyze the social process of institutionalization of the concept of limit on the Uruguayan educational context. It explores, in turn, its possible extension to the process of institutionalization of other mathematical knowledge in other socio-cultural contexts.