Culture of Rationality and Processes of Enculturation in Secondary School

The paper provides empirical evidence to support the notion that mathematics practices developed in the classroom are guided by a culture of rationality (specific to each classroom), determined by the justification patterns of the mathematics statements in that setting and the participation trajectories of class agents. Moreover, the paper empirically shows that even if the teacher preferentially promotes said culture, the students learn from it, they interiorize it and, in turn, put it into play. That is to say, the students take part in a process of 'enculturation'. The study, of an ethnographic and ethnological type, analyzes one case -that of a secondary school classroom and the Toulmin's model is used for the analysis of the arguments.