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Constructivist Teaching Experiment

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Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education

Introduction

The constructivist is fully aware of the fact that an organism’s conceptual constructions are not fancy-free. On the contrary, the process of constructing is constantly curbed and held in check by the constraints it runs into. (Ernst von Glasersfeld 1990, p. 33).

The constructivist teaching experiment emerged in the United States circa 1975 (Steffe et al. 1976) in an attempt to understand children’s numerical thinking and how that thinking might change rather than to rely on models that were developed outside of mathematics education for purposes other than educating children (e.g., Piaget and Szeminska 1952; McLellan and Dewey 1895; Brownell 1928). The use of the constructivist teaching experiment in the United State was buttressed by versions of the teaching experiment methodology that were being used already by researchers in the Academy of Pedagogical Sciences in the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Wirszup and Kilpatrick 1975–1978). The work at the Academy...

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Acknowledgment

We would like to thank Dr. Anderson Norton for his insightful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mathematics and Science Education, The University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Leslie P. Steffe

  2. School of Education, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA

    Catherine Ulrich

Authors
  1. Leslie P. Steffe
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  2. Catherine Ulrich
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leslie P. Steffe .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, Centre for Mathematics Education, London South Bank University, London, UK

    Stephen Lerman

Appendix: Example Studies Using Teaching Experiment Methodology

Appendix: Example Studies Using Teaching Experiment Methodology

Battista MT (1999) Fifth graders’ enumeration of cubes in 3D arrays: conceptual progress in an inquiry-based classroom. J Res Math Educ 30(4):417–448

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Cobb P (1996) Constructivism and activity theory: a consideration of their similarities and differences as they relate to mathematics education. In: Mansfield H, Patemen N, Bednarz N (eds) Mathematics for tomorrow’s young children: international perspectives on curriculum. Kluwer, Dordrecht, pp. 10–56

Castillo-Garsow C (2010) Teaching the Verhulst model: a teaching experiment in covariational reasoning and exponential growth. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University

Confrey J (1994) Splitting, similarity, and rate of change: a new approach to multiplication and exponential functions. In: Harel G, Confrey J (eds) The development of multiplicative reasoning in the learning of mathematics. State University of New York Press, Albany, pp. 291–330

Hunting RP (1980) The role of discrete quantity partition knowledge in the child’s construction of fractional number. Doctoral dissertation. Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (Order No. 8107919)

Liu Y (2005) A theoretical framework for understanding teachers’ personal and pedagogical understanding of probability and statistical inference. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University (Otto Bassler Award for Outstanding Dissertation)

Moore K (2010) The role of quantitative reasoning in precalculus students learning central concepts of trigonometry. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University

Ning TC (1993) Children’s meaning of fractional number words. Doctoral dissertation. Available from ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database (Order No. 9320722)

Olive J (1999) From fractions to rational numbers of arithmetic: a reorganization hypothesis. Math Think Learn 1(4):279–314

Saldanha L (2004) “Is this sample unusual?”: an investigation of students exploring connections between sampling distributions and statistical inference. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Peabody College, Vanderbilt University (Otto Bassler Award for Outstanding Dissertation)

Sáenz-Ludlow A (1994) Michael’s fraction Schemes. J Res Math Educ 25(1):50–85

Simon MA, Tzur R (1999) Explicating the teacher’s perspective from the researchers’ perspectives: generating accounts of mathematics teachers’ practice. J Res Math Educ 30(3):252–264

Thompson PW (1994) The development of the concept of speed and its relationship to concepts of rate. In: Harel G, Confrey J (eds) The development of multiplicative reasoning in the learning of mathematics. SUNY Press, Albany, pp. 179–234

Thompson PW (1993) Quantitative reasoning, complexity, and additive structures. Educ Stud Math 25(3):165–208

Ulrich C (2012) Additive relationships and signed quantities. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Mathematics and Science Education, University of Georgia

Weber E (2012) Students’ ways of thinking about two-variable functions and rate of change in space. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Arizona State University

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Steffe, L.P., Ulrich, C. (2020). Constructivist Teaching Experiment. In: Lerman, S. (eds) Encyclopedia of Mathematics Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-15789-0_32

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