Abstract
Within the mathematics education literature, the term ‘constructivism’ has been subject to a diversity of interpretations, many of which are trivializations of original theoretical work. We suggest that trivialized versions of constructivism continue to be promulgated due, in large part,to misunderstandings of some of the vocabulary adopted by its advocates. This situation has been the source of considerable frustration in our ongoing efforts to communicate the insights and implications of radical and social constructivist theories to preservice and practicing teachers. We discuss some of the specifics of these frustrations along with strategies intended to flag and circumvent them in our work with teachers. The writing is structured around a set of recursively elaborated interpretations of a classroom episode. Developed around varied understandings of the terms ‘structure’ and ‘construct’, these interpretations are intended to show how we have worked with teachers to foster a deep appreciation of how learning might be reframed as dependent on, rather than determined by, teaching.
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Towers, J., Davis, B. Structuring Occasions. Educational Studies in Mathematics 49, 313–340 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020245320040
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1020245320040