A History of Research in

Mathematics Education
By Jeremy Kilpatrick
 The history of education….
 Education was not considered a “discipline” to
be studied.
 Germany (1779) and Sweden (1804) were the
first countries to chair departments of education.
 In the U.S., New York University (1832), Brown
University (1850) and University of Michigan
(1860) led the way.
 Mathematics education programs began to
develop at the end of the 19th century.
Influences from the Disciplines
 Mathematics
– Mathematicians were curious about how math
was created.
– Observations of their children’s and
grandchildren’s mathematical helped develop
and improve programs.
 Psychology
– Empirical studies were used to observe
patterns in cognitive development of school
aged children.
 Pioneer in Mathematics
 Feliz Klein
– Professor of mathematics at Erlanger (1872)
– Famous for his Erlanger Programm
– Believed that mathematics should fall between
humanistic and scientific education
– Served as president of the International Commission
on the Teaching of Mathematics, which reported on
state of mathematics teaching around the world.
 The comparisons were descriptive rather than analytical.
 Reports were generated from data collected from surveys
 Pioneer in Psychology
 Alfred Binet
– Director of the first French psychological laboratory
– Sought to gather precise data by scientifically training
teachers and allowing them to practice experimental
pedogogy in their classrooms
– Believed that questionnaires, observation and
experiment were the best means for gathering this
information
– Originator of intelligence testing
 Believed that intelligence testing should be used for
diagnosis rather than ranking
 Basis for IQ test
 Research on Thinking
 Jean Piaget studied the processes children used
to obtain their answers. His assessment of
reasoning processes led to the “clinical method”.
 Psychological laboratories were established all
over the world, including one at Johns Hopkins
University in 1883.
 At JHU, G. Stanley Hall brought experimental
pedagogy to the U.S. by launching a child study
movement.
 More research on thinking….
 University of Wurzburg’s Otto Selz
concentrated his studies on problem
solving and influenced a generation of
psychologists.
– Karl Dunker authored and influential
monograph that analyzed the processes of
solving problems
– Lev Vygotsky formulated a thoery of mental
growth where development is guided by
instruction
 Studies of Teaching and Learning
 Teaching is taken as a treatment and
learning as an effect.
 The basic technique for analyzing such
effects within the compass of a single
investigation is analysis of variance,
developed by Ronald A. Fisher.
 Connectionism
 Phrase coined by Edward Thorndike to describe his
behaviorist studies in 1900.
 Thorndike and Robert Woodward attempted to show the
limitations of transfer of training.
 For example, they found that practicing estimating the
sizes of rectangles did not improve one’s ability to
estimate the sizes of triangles.
 However, Thorndike did not say that transfer of training
was impossible “but only that transfer cannot be
assumed to occur, that it is rarely automatics, and that
direct teaching for desired outcomes is usually more
efficient and economical than are hoped-for, spill-over
effects”
 Charles H Judd
 His studies disproved connectionism.
 Fifth and sixth graders that were taught
the principle of refraction did better
shooting darts at a moving underwater
target than pupil who were not familiar
with refraction.
 Believed that arithmetic is a “general
mode of thinking”.
 The Testing Movement
 Started in Boston in 1845 to prove to the
state board how well their students were
performing (backfired)
 Detailed work done by reformer Joseph
Mayer Rice in the 1890’s.
 His studies concluded that by setting
standards and administering exams,
school districts could get the results they
wanted.
 Child Study
 G. Stanley Hall and Maria Montessori
published findings on the use of activities
and materials in teaching mathematics to
young children.
 Because child study usually involves pre-
school children, it has not produced much
worthwhile in the area of mathematic
education.
 The Measurement Movement
 Cliff W. Stone conducted a study on 3000
students to measure achievement in reasoning
and fundamentals.
 Stone wanted to standardize the administration
and scoring of the test in order to extract
relationships between other factors.
 Introduction of the concept of efficiency of
instruction-ratio linking achievement to time
spent in instruction
 The Social Utility Movement
 What does business want?
– Mental calculations
 Does the curriculum have too much “fluff”?
– Yes. Too many “excessive requirements” and too
much time spent on arithmetic.
 What arithmetic do people use?
– Simple calculations, using numbers under 1000
– Calculations for buying and selling
– Simple fractions with numerator of 1
 A Reaction to Reductionism
 Critics argue that curriculum cannot be
based on frequency of adult usage
– “Shall we say that 60% of the teaching of the
schools in spelling and language should be
devoted to the 100 word of the most frequent
occurrence—to the, and, but, to, be, etc?”
 Incidental Learning and Readiness
 Incidental learning-children learn arithmetic
better if it is not systematically taught
 IL was the precursor for readiness theory-
concepts are better taught to a child once
he/she is mature enough to understand it.
 Louis Benezet, a superintendent in New
Hampshire, conducted a study that didn’t teach
arithmetic until after grade 7. After a year’s
instruction, these students tested at the same
level of students that had been taught in a
traditional manner.
Responses to Curriculum Issues
 Though most agreed on the importance of
knowing arithmetic, required math courses in
high school was challenges in the 1920’s and
1930’s.
 Educators started evaluating individual
differences and whether or not all students
would benefit from studying math.
 Other studies dealt with unified mathematics.
 Eight Year Study-allowed secondary schools to
experiment with innovative curricula without
risking graduates’ chances of admission to
college
 The search continues….
 Math educators still didn’t know where
they fit in.
– Mathematicians were busy arguing
mathematical minutiae.
– Psychologist often debated issues that were
irrelevant to math education.
The Golden Age-early to mid 1950’s
 American school were under attack for graduating young
adults that were not prepared for college or the working
world.
 Three gatherings of mathematicians and educators to
analyze and/or solve the problem:
– 1962-conference that brought together psychologists,
mathematicians nad mathematics educators to discuss the
problems of mathematical learning.
– 1967-more diverse and marked the beginning of true
interdisciplinary and community among researchers in math
education
– 1968-mainly mathematicians and educators called together to
identify topics for projects, thesis and postdoctoral research in
mathematics education.
Organized and progressive research
 Journal-Vol.1 No.1 Journal for Research in
Mathematics Education (January 1970)
 About 85% of the research was being
conducted in the U.S.
 New doctoral programs in math education
 Realistic approach
 European researchers explored activity
theory developed in the Soviet Union.
 Mathematics is viewed as a human activity
arising out of real situations that ask the
students to learn from investigating
problems they’ve formulated
 What does this sound like???
 Conclusion
 Has the lack of depth in mathematics
education research contributed to the
disputes over math reform?
 Are TERC’s and Everyday Math considered
studies for research in math education?
 What’s next??