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RESEARCH
INTO
PRACTICE
Prepared by Constance Kamii and Barbara A. Lewis, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL 35294
Edited by Douglas H. Clements, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260
Michael T. Battista, Kent State University, Kent, OR 44242
34 ARITHMETIC TEACHER
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
the members of a culture. Thus, the constructivist class- ported. Through interaction with mathematical tasks
room is seen as a culture in which students are involved and other students, the student's own intuitive mathe-
not only in discovery and invention but in a social dis- matical thinking gradually becomes more abstract and
course involving explanation, negotiation, sharing, and powerful.
evaluation. Because the role of the constructivist teacher is to
5. When a teacher demands that students use set guide and support students' invention of viable mathe-
mathematical methods, the sense-making activity of matical ideas rather than transmit "correct" adult ways
students is seriously curtailed. Students tend to mimic of doing mathematics, some see the constructivist ap-
the methods by rote so that they can appear to achieve proach as inefficient, free-for-all discovery. In fact,
the teacher's goals. Their beliefs about the nature of even in its least directive form, the guidance of the
mathematics change from viewing mathematics as teacher is the feature that distinguishes constructivism
sense making to viewing it as learning set procedures from unguided discovery. The constructivist teacher,
that make little sense. by offering appropriate tasks and opportunities for dia-
logue, guides the focus of students' attention, thus un-
obtrusively directing their learning (Bruner 1986).
Two Maior Goals Constructivist teachers must be able to pose tasks
Although it has many different interpretations, taking a that bring about appropriate conceptual reorganizations
constructivist perspective appears to imply two major in students. This approach requires knowledge of both
goals for mathematics instruction (Cobb 1988). First, the normal developmental sequence in which students
students should develop mathematical structures that learn specific mathematical ideas and the current indi-
are more complex, abstract, and powerful than the ones vidual structures of students in the class. Such teachers
they currently possess so that they are increasingly ca- must also be skilled in structuring the intellectual and
pable of solving a wide variety of meaningful problems. social climate of the classroom so that students discuss,
Second, students should become autonomous and reflect on, and make sense of these tasks.
self-motivated in their mathematical activity. Such stu-
dents believe that mathematics is a way of thinking
about problems. They believe that they do not "get" An Invitation
mathematical knowledge from their teacher so much as Each article in this year's "Research into Practice" col-
from their own explorations, thinking, and participation umn will present specific examples of the constructivist
in discussions. They see their responsibility in the math- approach in action. Each will describe how students
ematics classroom not so much as completing assigned think about particular mathematical ideas and how in-
tasks but as making sense of, and communicating about, structional environments can be structured to cause stu-
mathematics. Such independent students have the dents to develop more powerful thinking about those
sense of themselves as controlling and creating mathe- ideas. We invite you to consider the approach and how
matics. it relates to your teaching-to try it in your classroom.
Which tenets of constructivism might you accept? How
Teaching and Learning might your teaching and classroom environment change
if you accept that students must construct their own
Constructivist instruction, on the one hand, gives pre- knowledge? Are the implications different for students
eminent value to the development of students' personal of different ages? How do you deal with individual dif-
mathematical ideas. Traditional instruction, on the ferences? Most important, what instructional methods
other hand, values only established mathematical tech- are consistent with a constructivist view of learning?
niques and concepts. For example, even though many
teachers consistently use concrete materials to intro-
duce ideas, they use them only for an introduction; the References
goal is to get to the abstract, symbolic, established Bruner, Jerome. Actual Minds, Possible Worlds. Cambridge, Mass.: Har-
vard University Press, 1986.
mathematics. Inadvertently, students' intuitive thinking
Cobb, Paul. "The Tension between Theories of Learning and Instruction
about what is meaningful to them is devalued. They in Mathematics Education." Educational Psychologist 23 (1988):87-
come to feel that their intuitive ideas and methods are 103.
not related to real mathematics. In contrast, in con- Mathematical Sciences Education Board (MSEB) and National Research
Council. Everybody Counts: A Report to the Nation on the Future of
structivist instruction, students are encouraged to use Mathematics Education. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press,
their own methods for solving problems. They are not 1989.
asked to adopt someone else's thinking but encouraged National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Commission on Standards
for School Mathematics. Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for
to refine their own. Although the teacher presents tasks School Mathematics. Reston, Va.: The Council, 1989.
that promote the invention or adoption of more sophis- Steffe, Leslie, and Paul Cobb. Construction of Arithmetical Meanings
ticated techniques, all methods are valued and sup- and Strategies. New York: Springer-Verlag, 1988.
SEPTEMBER 1990 35
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