LS 452, Spring 2012

Updated: 03/04/12

Uri Wilensky

Assignment #2

Read the following 5 selections. Send 2 new quotes (one from Piaget and one from Papert) and 2 new reactions to the class list.

We will choose one person to prepare a PowerPoint and lead discussion.

Gruber, H.E. & Voneche, J.J., Eds. (1977). The Essential Piaget. New York: Basic Books. (Introduction, pp. xvi-xliv). [PDF]
Piaget, J. (1954). The Construction of Reality in the Child. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, pp. 1-96. [PDF]
Papert, S. (1996). A Word for Learning. In Y. Kafai & M. Resnick (Eds.), Constructionism in Practice, (pp. 9 – 24). Mahwah: New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. [PDF]
Papert, S. (1988). The Conservation of Piaget: The Computer as Grist to the Constructivist Mill. In Constructivism in the Computer Age. NY: Lawrence Erlbaum. [PDF]
Papert, S. (1999). Papert on Piaget. Time Magazine. [HTML]

Assignment #3

Read (for next week April 19th)

Jean Piaget:

The Child’s Conception of Number (Chapter 1). [PDF]
The Moral Judgment of the Child (Excerpt). [PDF]

Papert:

Teaching Children to be Mathematicians vs. Teaching about Mathematics.[PDF]

For each reading, please send one sentence and some thoughts to the class list. Total of 2-3 pages of text).

2 of you have been asked to produce powerpoint slide/s on these and show next class.

Write

Write a short essay (no more than 2 pages): What is development? Is it different from learning? How or how not?

Conduct a Piagetian clinical interview (Due April 26th)

Find a youngish child (less than 8 is best) and conduct a Piagetian interview with the child. You can use a question that you have found in the readings or make up your own. Videotape the interview and transcribe it. Bring a flash drive with the original video to class as well as copies of the transcription for everyone in class. Try to hone your technique using the readings (and video of Piaget) as a guide. Write a shortish essay analyzing the interview.

If you have trouble locating a subject, ask me -- I may be able to help.

Assignment #4 (Due April 25th)

Read

Bamberger, J. (1996). Turning Music Theory on its Ear: Do we hear what we see; Do we see what we say? International Journal of Computers for Mathematical learning, Vol. 1 N1, 33 – 55. [PDF]
diSessa, A.. Hammer, D Sherin, B., and Kolpakowski, T. (1991). Inventing Graphing: Meta-Representational Expertise in Children. Journal of Mathematical Behavior. [PDF]

For each reading, please send one sentence and some thoughts to the class list by Tuesday noon (total of 2-3 pages of text).

Jaime and Dave have been asked to produce powerpoint slide/s on these and show next class; please email Powerpoints to Uri by Tuesday night.

Finish conducting a Piagetian clinical interview

If you have trouble locating a subject, ask me -- I may be able to help.

Assignment #5 (Due May 2nd)

Read

Hammer, D. (1995). Misconceptions or P-Prims: How may Alternative Perspectives of Cognitive Structure Influence Instructional Perceptions and Intentions. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 5(2), 97 – 127. [PDF]

1 of you has been asked to produce powerpoint slide/s on these and show next class.

Write a short essay on the topic of what is a stage, what is a style? How are they different?

Assignment #6

Read

Kafai, Y. (1991). Learning Design by Making Games. In I. Harel & S. Papert (Eds.), Constructionism. Norwood, MA. : Ablex Publishing. [PDF]
Turkle, S., & Papert, S. (1991). Epistemological pluralism and revaluation of the concrete. In I. H. a. S. Papert (Ed.), Constructionism (pp. 161-192). Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Co. [PDF]

For each reading, please send one sentence and some thoughts to the class list by Tuesday noon. Two of you have been asked to produce powerpoint slide/s on these and show next class; please email Powerpoints to Uri by Tuesday night.

Conduct a Piagetian clinical interview (Due May 16th) Find a subject (any age) and conduct a Piagetian interview with them. You can use a question that you have found in the readings or make up your own. Try to find a question that is at the right level for your subject. A god question is one that the subject hasn't been told an answer to before, nor one that requires specialized knowledge to tackle meaningfully. Videotape the interview and transcribe at least 10 minutes of it. Bring a flash drive with the original video to class as well as copies of the transcription for everyone in class. Try to hone your technique using the readings (and video of Piaget) as a guide. Write an analysis of the interview that describes the subject and the setting, includes an analysis of the subject's thinking on the topic and an analysis of the interview interaction and how you decided to frame your questions.

Assignment #7 (Due May 15)

Read

Ackermann, E. (2005). Playthings That Do Things: A Young Kid’s “Incredibles”! IDC 2005, June 8-10, 2005, Boulder, Colorado, USA. [PDF]
Ackermann, E. (2001) Piaget's Constructivism, Papert's Constructionism: What's the difference? In Constructivism: Uses and Perspectives in Education, volumes 1& 2. Conference Proceedings, Geneva: Research Center in Eduction. [PDF]

For each reading, please choose one sentence and send your comment by Tuesday at 5:00 pm.

Assignment #8 (Due May 22)

Read

Blikstein, P. (2008). Travels in Troy with Freire: technology as an agent for emancipation. In P. Noguera & A. Torres (Eds.), Paulo Freire: The possible dream. Rotterdam, Netherlands: Sense. [PDF]
Wilensky, U. (1997). What is Normal Anyway? Therapy for Epistemological Anxiety. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 33, 171 – 202. [PDF]

For each reading, please send one sentence and some thoughts to the class list by Tuesday noon.

Assignment #9 (Due June 3rd)

Read

Minsky, M. (1986). The Society of Mind (pp. 1 – 54). New York, Simon & Schuster. [PDF]
Confrey, J. (1991). Learning to Listen: A student’s understanding of powers of ten. In Ernst von Glaserfeld (Ed.), Radical Constructivism in Mathematics Education. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, p. 111-138.[PDF]
Eisenberg, M. (2003) Mindstuff: educational technology beyond the computer. Convergence, 9:2, pp. 29-53. [PDF]

For each reading, please send one sentence and some thoughts to class list.

3 of you have been asked to produce powerpoint slide/s on these and show next class.

Future Assigned Readings

Eisenberg, M. (2010). Computational Diversions: Turtle Really and Truly Escapes the Plane. International Journal of Computers for Mathematical Learning, 15 (1), 73-79. [PDF]
Bamberger, J. & diSessa, A. (2003). Music as Embodied Mathematics: A Study of a Mutually Informing Affinity. International Journal of Computers for Mathematical Learning. 8(2): 123-160. [PDF]
Kafai, Y., & Harel, I. (1996). Children Learning Through Consulting. In Y. Kafai & M. Resnick (Eds.), Constructionism in practice: Designing, thinking, and learning in a digital world. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. [PDF]