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Mathematical Education and Educational Psychology: A Radical and Definitive Approach

Aury de Sa Leite, BOOK

Preface

There is no a specific psychology of mathematics, but exist a psychological theory that can give a strong support for the Mathematics Education: the Cognitivist Psychology generally based on the ideas about learning of Piaget, Vygotsky and Papert, only to mention three examples.

No teacher can teach math for the new generations using old methods, because they are habitual users of innovations produced by computers. Particularly in the case of mathematics, one cannot talk about 'teaching', but only in 'learning', and this learning should occur through contact of students with meaningful learning opportunities, i.e., interested participation in performing significant tasks to them.

Meaningful opportunities for learning, according to the age of the students can be presented by the teacher through: (1) games for thought, (2) the use of concrete materials or experimental devices, (3) addressed readings in selected schoolbooks of mathematics either history of mathematics, (4) projects involving mathematical modeling, (5) the solving model problems well chosen in didactical books, taking during resolution, the teacher as the most competent peer, (6) the indication of challenge exercises to be discussed in groups in the classroom, (7) to display of mathematical ideas in electronic devices,

and amazingly, (8) even through lectures with a very active participation of students.

Chapter 1 Psychological Approaches to Mathematics Education 1.0.- Mathematics Education


In contemporary education, mathematics education is the practice of teaching and learning mathematics, along with the associated scholarly research. Researchers in mathematics education are primarily concerned with the tools, methods and approaches that facilitate practice or the study of practice. However, mathematics education research, known on the continent of Europe as the didactics or pedagogy of mathematics, has developed into an extensive field of study, with its own concepts, theories, methods, national and international organizations, conferences and literature.

My concept of Mathematics Education (in Brazil: Educao Matemtica; in Europe: Didactics of Mathematics and/or Psychology of Mathematics) is the following: Mathematics teachers must have a deep knowledge of the subject and must know to transform this knowledge into meaningful learning opportunities for students. Nobody teaches mathematics to others, they must learn for themselves through the learning opportunities created by educators. Students only learn mathematics effectively when are faced with real learning opportunities. All the learned ideas (concepts included) through these learning opportunities should be perfectly understood, discussed and assimilated significantly by him and his colleagues in a study group. From that, all the new learned ideas should apply to solve new problems, preferably connected to the real world or linked to everyday life, when possible. Teachers should present the Mathematics through a cognitive point of view, that is, by applying concepts of cognitive psychology in everyday classroom full time. I believe and I experienced this through more than 35 years working with Mathematical Education in K-12 and Universities and talking about theories of Didactics of Mathematics, Mathematical Education and its Learning in schools mathematics should learned by students through a cognitive approach, that is, by applying concepts of Cognitive Psychology in all mathematics lessons all the time.

In this book, we are suggesting and working with Cognitivism, but it is well to remember that there are three basic types and completely different approaches to mathematics education through psychology: Behaviorism, Cognitivism and Humanism. Moreover, we will consider the following: we will include the Gestalt Theory inside the Cognitive Theory, fact that is quite natural for many scholars of this field. When we talk about to present (by teachers or educators) and to learn (by students) mathematical ideas according to cognitivism, would be a great heresy to talk about "TO TEACH" mathematics, in this case we will have to talk about Mathematics Education or the Learning Mathematics or the Psychology of Mathematics, but never "teach mathematics". A teacher do not teaches Mathematics because it is not possible to teach Mathematics, for all students (and for you too) only is possible to discover and self learn the mathematical ideas.

1.1.- Behaviorism, Cognitivism and Humanism


Here we will discuss, rather quickly, the main lines of psychology interested in human learning.

1.2.- The Behaviorist Theory - a summary


The initial ideas of behaviorism (or behaviourism), described by John B. Watson, were based on experimental studies of the classical conditioning carried out by Pavlov. Pavlov's experiments with dogs are a much known example of the classical conditioning. A dog was presented to a stimulus such as a light or a sound and after this stimuli, after this, an small quantity of food is supplied to the animal. After a few repetitions of this procedure, the light or sound by itself caused the dog to salivate. The behaviorism conceives that: events only objective and publicly observables may constitute the true basis of all scientific psychology, do not involving the mental constructs or events considered happen in the private conscience. A theorist of this school was only interested in the relationship between the "stimuli" and "responses to these stimuli" (RS) ignoring aspects or processes that connect the stimulus and the occurrence of measurable response or observable behavior. In short, behaviorism encompasses the basic assumptions of the construction of scientific knowledge: facts strictly observed and controlled they can be reproduced again in these same conditions. Behaviorism is the science of observable behavior without reference to consciousness, i.e., does not consider the private mental events of person.

1.2.- The Cognitive Theory - a summary


Cognitive Psychology, Cognitivist Psychology or simply, Cognitivism, is a specific area of psychological research characterized by the study of how the human brain grasps, stores, processes, retrieves, and uses information. In other words, the cognitive scientist observes how humans assimilate information from the environment and how it transforms this information through internal processes and uses these information already processed and properly adopted to act, handle objects, interact with others, make decisions, solve problems, modify the environment, to invent, to fable, to create, discover and finally, to live. This is the cognitive model of information processing performed by humans. By extension, the Cognitive Psychology decides completely leave the exclusive concern with external components and publicly observable behaviors, starting to worry about the organization of knowledge, information processing, thinking styles and behaviors related to decision-making. Jean Piaget and Vygotsky are the two most prominent psychologists of Cognitivism. Many educators and teachers apply many educational ideas of Piaget and Vygotsky in the schools with large success. Many of the theoretical concepts of these two psychologists (and the ideas of many others cognitive scientists) will serves as the basis for many of the original ideas introduced along this book.

1.2.1.- The Gestalt Theory


The Gestalt psychological theory formulated in the late nineteenth century in Germany and Austria, was a protest against the tendency of to consider human experiences in isolated parts, that is, by dividing the whole into pieces or atoms. The Gestalt proposes that an analysis of the parts could never provide an understanding of the whole, since the whole defined by the interaction and interdependence of these pieces. The many parts of a gestalt not maintain their identity when they are separated. The German word "gestalt" means "organized totality", that is, an ordered set of elements (objects, facts, ideas, occurrences, etc). The Gestalt which was initially conceived as a psychological theory, modernly is considered as a philosophy, when then is called "Theory of Form", whose interests are the "good shapes", or by simplification: a "gestalt". Some authors do not consider the Gestalt psychology as an independent area in Psychology, but as a relevant part of the Cognitivist Theory. The most notable contribution of Gestalt theory to

understanding cognition concerns the study of insight (sudden enlightenment or revelation). In Gestalt theory, exactly this kind of sudden illuminations receives the name: insights. The human learning, which most often occurs through problem solving, assumes that this phenomenon (insight/enlightenment/illumination) is not entirely clear to the individual conscience. The phenomenons that accompany the processes of problem solving often occur abruptly in regions not accessible by consciousness. Humans think deliberately and consciously, but the solutions of some problems occur suddenly and inexplicably as coming from somewhere undetectable of their minds. Another issue involved in these processes of problem resolution by humans is that who solves a problem usually does not bother to describe the mental process used to solve it. Some persons are incapable to report on each step considered valid by them involving the resolution and the right response to the problem. Many others will be incapable of describe or report the steps attempted, but abandoned; some of these were discharged because are paths that leads to to a dead end or to a wrong answer.

1.3.- The Humanistic Psychology - a summary


The focus of Humanistic Theory takes place directly on the person, from the analysis of their development and their particular manner of acquiring knowledge, i.e., is a person-centered psychological theory. In it, the human will being viewed from various existential angles, not just through the evaluation of your intellectual behavior; persons are essentially left free to make their choices and to live your lifes. Humanism considers the human being potentially able to expand, of grow and develop, making you more independent of the environment as much as possible using their skills creatively, reaching ever higher levels of efficiency and performance. This innate tendency of human selfrealization and this quest for self-actualization is that underlie the humanist theory. Let's find out the proposed ideas for educators by the Third Force Psychology, as it is also called the Humanistic Psychology: (1) the learning student-centered and (2) the non-directive guidance in the classrooms: (1) The student-centered learning: The student-centered learning: in this approach, we defend the idea that the educator must not transmit content or must direct the educational process. Rather, the teacher should guide and assist, regarded in the educational process as a facilitator of learning, a creator of meaningful learning opportunities for students. All contents of the learning will be established based on the previous experiences of the students themselves. The student knowledge-base must be rebuilt and expanded from

stimulations and guidance of the teacher; the teacher will does not directs the learning process, but only organizes lessons, printed papers, and the necessary 'concrete objects' to realize all the works in the classroom, as well as the involved logical procedures or the crucial experimental actions. (2) The non-directive guidance: to guide in a non-directive intervention is to stimulate the processes of intellectual construction taking into account the personality of the individuals, their proposals, their aspirations and their desires and anxieties. The non-directive guidance must integrate the students and the teacher in order to accomplish actions as people committed to the process of growth of the group, without loss of their personalities and their interpersonal discoveries.

1.4.- Confrontando Diferenas


O Behaviorismo, o Cognitivismo e o Humanismo so as correntes da Psicologia que mais amplamente teorizam sobre a aprendizagem. No entanto, somente as idias behavioristas e as cognitivistas vm sendo aplicadas na prtica escolar [Witter & Lomnoco 1984]. O Humanismo, que prev a aprendizagem centrada no indivduo, alm de outras especificidades, pouco prtico quando se pretende aplic-lo nos sistemas escolares como esto atualmente constitudos ou, at mesmo, quando se pretende utiliz-lo como base para sistemas de aprendizagem individualizados. Outro fato a ser citado que na Psicologia Humanista o professor, um "orientador no-diretivo", cria condies para que o aluno aprenda, condies estas que no precisam ter ligao ou compromisso com currculos escolares [Neill 1960; 1966], enquanto no Cognitivismo, o professor deve criar e oferecer oportunidades de aprendizagem normalmente ligadas prtica escolar [Grossi & Bordin 1999] ou ao projeto pedaggico da escola [Fosnot 1998]. A partir dos anos 60, o Cognitivismo vem ganhando prestgio como corrente da Psicologia, o que coincide com a reduo da influncia do Behaviorismo [Penna 1984]. Glaser [Glaser 1978] corrobora esta idia, afirmando que a fora terica atualmente dominante no campo da Psicologia o Cognitivismo, "em contraste com os anos anteriores, nos quais as teorias behavioristas da aprendizagem eram mais influentes". justificvel a forte tendncia de se considerar a Psicologia Cognitivista como sendo a que melhor responde s perguntas dos psiclogos com relao cognio humana [Morris 1976], pois nesta corrente psicolgica que se encontra a tentativa de explicar todos os tipos de aprendizagem , desde os mais simples at os mais complexos, que envolvem o pensamento lgico, a aprendizagem de conceitos, a compreenso e a aplicao de regras e princpios, a resoluo de problemas.

Lomnaco [Witter & Lomnoco1984] observa que, enquanto a abordagem behaviorista se apresenta uniforme em funo dos princpios de constatao cientfica em que baseada, a teoria cognitivista da aprendizagem se apresenta sob a forma de teorias muito criativas e diversificadas que parecem conflitar, mas que, de fato, podem ser agrupadas em uma mesma categoria cuja idia subjacente a de que a pessoa atua de acordo com o que acredita ou percebe, e no somente baseada naquilo que ela conhece, como preconiza o behaviorismo. Os aspectos conflitantes do Behaviorismo e do Cognitivismo no atingem as concepes da Psicologia Humanista. A Psicologia Humanista praticamente independe dos conceitos sejam eles behavioristas ou cognitivistas [Teles 1989].

Chapter 2 Pedagogy and Didactics of Mathematics

Chapter 3 Psychopedagogy and the Mathematics Education

Psychopedagogy is a combination of two main branches of study, Pedagogy and Psychology. The Psychology of Education.

Field of Work
- In educational centers designing and implementing intervention strategies for people with learning difficulties and with people with a disability. - In educational centers favoring students development through mentoring actions. - In Psychopedagogical and special education centers undertaking tasks related to assessment, intervention and psycho pedagogical assessment. - In organizations fostering educational, working and social inclusion of people with special educational needs. - In educational centers and organizations promoting the process of improvement through educative innovation and paying attention to diversity, thus strengthening the quality of life. - As an independent professional, working on his own Psychopedagogical consulting firm.

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