Abstract

We compare the Metaphor Approach to mathematics teaching and learning and the Basic Ideas (“Grundvorstellungen”) approach of the German school of didactics of mathematics.We find close connections as well as some differences: “Grundvor-stellungen” tend to be more “top-down” from the student’s viewpoint than metaphors, which operate in a more “bottom-up” and “poietic” (concept generating) way. Metaphor; Basic Ideas; Grundvorstellungen; fractions; stochastic thinking.