On the Nature of a Model of Mathematical Learning
Leslie P. Steffe, Heide G. Wiegel · 2013
In mathematics education, we often take for granted that students can and do learn mathematics. But it is quite difficult to specify an account of this process of learning, an account detailed enough for a teacher to recognize particular types of mathematics learning and general enough to provide an orientation for action in future teaching situations. We need a general model of learning and particular models of mathematics learning (von Glasersfeld & Steffe, 1991). Each particular model constitutes a major achievement on the part of the model builder, and we make no pretense to offer such models in this chapter. Our goal is more modest. We focus our comments on the nature of a particular model of mathematics learning: its relation to theory, its constitutive elements, its relation to mathematics teaching, and how it might be built.