In Memoriam Jan de Lange (1943-2025)

Jan de Lange (1943-2025)

On March 13, Professor Jan de Lange passed away.

De Lange (1943) was professor of didactics of mathematics and computer science education at Utrecht University. In 1989, he became professor-director of the OW&OC, which was renamed the Freudenthal Institute in 1991.

Jan's vision on mathematics education was groundbreaking and has had great influence, both in the Netherlands and worldwide. In the Netherlands, he played a leading role in introducing the subject mathematics A for havo and vwo. Internationally, Jan was best known as chairman of the Mathematics Expert Group for PISA from the beginning until 2009. We remember Jan as a highly inventive developer and researcher and as a passionate teacher with a great heart for mathematics, but above all for students. The Freudenthal Institute owes him a great debt of gratitude and wishes his loved ones strength in coping with this loss.

A good impression of Jan’s vision on mathematics education is provided in two interviews:

An article about Jan’s contribution to the theory of realistic mathematics education (Doorman, 2020) can be found at https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-05514-1_3#Sec13

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