Here’s How Freudenthal Saw It

Even though he had almost reached his retirement he was anything but a critical outsider. In addition to his, over the years ever increasing, flow of articles and lectures on mathematics education Freudenthal’s book Mathematics as an educational task had been published both in English and (in two volumes) in German in 1973. With respect to content it did not add much to the ideas that Freudenthal had already disseminated in his articles and lectures, but as a sign that he was now almost completely devoted to mathematics education and didactics of mathematics it had great importance. Apart from these publications he was also actively and completely involved in the field: ranging from activities at the organizational level, such as establishing an international journal for the didactics of mathematics, to observing practice in class rooms. As professor-director of the IOWO he presented himself as the mathematics didactician in the Netherlands. But internationally too he played a leading role in the didactics of mathematics. Meanwhile Freudenthal continued to develop, accentuate and extend his own ideas.