Being a mathematician is no more definable as 'knowing' a set of mathematical facts than being a poet is definable as knowing a set of linguistic facts. Some modern math ed reformers will give this statement a too easy assent with the comment: 'Yes, they must understand, not merely know.' But this misses the capital point that being a mathematician, again like being a poet, or a composer or an engineer, means doing, rather than knowing or understanding. This essay is an attempt to explore some ways in which one might be able to put children in a better position to do mathematics rather than merely to learn about it.
%0 Report
%1 papert1971teaching
%A Papert, Symour
%D 1971
%K MIT aimemos consturctionism creativity education empowerment learning mathematics teaching
%N AIM-249
%T Teaching children to be mathematicians vs. teaching about mathematics
%U http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/5837
%X Being a mathematician is no more definable as 'knowing' a set of mathematical facts than being a poet is definable as knowing a set of linguistic facts. Some modern math ed reformers will give this statement a too easy assent with the comment: 'Yes, they must understand, not merely know.' But this misses the capital point that being a mathematician, again like being a poet, or a composer or an engineer, means doing, rather than knowing or understanding. This essay is an attempt to explore some ways in which one might be able to put children in a better position to do mathematics rather than merely to learn about it.
@techreport{papert1971teaching,
abstract = {Being a mathematician is no more definable as 'knowing' a set of mathematical facts than being a poet is definable as knowing a set of linguistic facts. Some modern math ed reformers will give this statement a too easy assent with the comment: 'Yes, they must understand, not merely know.' But this misses the capital point that being a mathematician, again like being a poet, or a composer or an engineer, means doing, rather than knowing or understanding. This essay is an attempt to explore some ways in which one might be able to put children in a better position to do mathematics rather than merely to learn about it.},
added-at = {2009-10-30T18:24:06.000+0100},
author = {Papert, Symour},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/22e276d87dfc14b89416b3c430dfbe8f2/yish},
interhash = {ba9dfefc5fd268bee6119621cfd23342},
intrahash = {2e276d87dfc14b89416b3c430dfbe8f2},
keywords = {MIT aimemos consturctionism creativity education empowerment learning mathematics teaching},
number = {AIM-249},
timestamp = {2009-10-30T18:24:06.000+0100},
title = {Teaching children to be mathematicians vs. teaching about mathematics},
type = {AI Memos},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/5837},
year = 1971
}