Mathematics in nursery education

Abstract

Key features of constructivism: "As a methodological perspective in the social sciences, constructivism assumes that human beings are knowing subjects, that human behavior is mainly purposive, and that ...human organisms have a highly developed capacity for organizing knowledge... These assumptions suggest methods- ethnography, clinical interviews, overt thinking...- specially designed to study complex semi-autonomous systems. P. 7 "Constructivism is rooted in the idea of an epistemological subject, an active knowing mechanism that knows through continued construction... The need to identify and describe various cognitive structures in all phases of construction suggest methods such as the clinical interview and prolonged observation that permit us to make inferences about the structures that underlie behavior." P. 9. She calls this "methodological constructivism" which "develops methods of study consonant with the assumption of cognitive constructivism." P. 10. She has a very good discussion here of what this implies for education. She and I agree that what is important is whatever promotes good construction; sometimes, this might even imply rote learning.