Rinus Voeten wrote:
>
> Michael Atherton wrote in message
>
> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
> >
> >I work in a university environment dominated
> >by constructivists. I have been trying to find authors
> >or researchers who are publishing views contrary to
> >the NCTM standards...without much luck. Can any
> >one tell me who are the national figures with views
> >opposed to the constructivist approach to mathematics
> >education?
For a critque of extreme versions of consatructivism by leading researchers in
the cognitive sciences look up "Applications and Misapplications of Cognitive
Psychology to Mathematics Education 1" by John R. Anderson, Lynne M. Reder,
Herbert A. Simon. It used to be available from their Carnegie-Mellon web
pages, and is also published in a leading Education journal (I don't have the
details to hand).
Abstract: "There is a frequent misperception that the move from behaviorism to
cognitivism implied an abandonment of the possibilities of decomposing
knowledge into its elements for purposes of study and decontextualizing
these elements for purposes of instruction. We show that cognitivism does
not imply outright rejection of decomposition and decontextualization. We
critically analyze two movements which are based in part on this
rejection--situated learning and constructivism. Situated learning commonly
advocates practices that lead to overly specific learning outcomes while
constructivism advocates very inefficient learning and assessment
procedures. The modern information-processing approach in cognitive
psychology would recommend careful analysis of the goals of instruction and
thorough empirical study of the efficacy of instructional approaches."
Thom
