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Mathematics education semantic networks

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Abstract

Continuous technological advances have resulted in analysis techniques that can be used in network theory. Topological characterisation, study of cohesion, and analysis of prominence are relevant techniques through which vertices (e.g., words) and their relationships are considered. The goal of this paper is to produce a comparative study on semantic networks based on titles of scientific papers in the field of mathematics education in Portuguese (Brazil) and English to ascertain the topological structure of these semantic networks and to present reflections thereafter concerning the diffusion of mathematics education. The vertices of proposed semantic networks are words with intrinsic meaning belonging to the titles of scientific papers and two words are connected if both belong to the same title. Methods and metrics from social and complex network analysis have been used to develop a diagnosis of the characterisation of this type of semantic network. Within this context, this study could be used to offer support to facilitate the process of diffusing knowledge in specific areas.

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Notes

  1. http://www.crme.soton.ac.uk/links/journals.html.

  2. Given a body of words in a given language in a simplified way, Zipf’s Law states that the second highest occurrence of a word is half the frequency of the first, the third is one-third of the first and so forth.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Ciências Exatas, Universidade Estadual de Feira de Santana, Feira de Santana, Brazil

    Trazíbulo Henrique, Inácio de Sousa Fadigas & Marcos Grilo Rosa

  2. Programa de Modelagem Computacional, SENAI Cimatec, Salvador, Brazil

    Hernane Borges de Barros Pereira

  3. Departamento de Educação, Universidade do Estado da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil

    Hernane Borges de Barros Pereira

Authors
  1. Trazíbulo Henrique
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  2. Inácio de Sousa Fadigas
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  3. Marcos Grilo Rosa
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  4. Hernane Borges de Barros Pereira
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Inácio de Sousa Fadigas.

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Henrique, T., Fadigas, I.d., Rosa, M.G. et al. Mathematics education semantic networks. Soc. Netw. Anal. Min. 4, 200 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-014-0200-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13278-014-0200-x

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