Reflecting on a Theoretical Approach from a Networking Perspective: The Case of the Documentational Approach to Didactics
Résumé
This chapter analyses the emergence and development of the documentational approach to didactics (DAD), paying specific attention to the theoretical sources and connections having inspired its progressive elaboration. After introducing the two main conceptual tools used for this analysis, the scale of networking strategies between theories (Bikner-Ahsbahs, A., & Prediger, S. (2008). Networking of theories – An approach for exploiting the diversity of theoretical approaches. In B. Sriraman & L. English (Eds.), Theories in mathematics education (pp. 483–506). New York: Springer) and the idea of research praxeology (Artigue M, Bosch M, Gascón J, Bosch M et al. Centre de Recerca Matemàtica, Barcelona, 2011), the chapter proposes a chronological analysis with two main sections, respectively, devoted to the emergence and development of this approach. This analysis, based on the main publications associated with DAD, shows the respective roles played in the dynamics of this approach by the rapid emergence and stabilization of a full research praxeology and, at the same time, the impressive number of connections established with a diversity of theories in no more than one decade. These characteristics give DAD a specific identity. The chapter ends by establishing a connection with the international Lexicon project.