Mathematics Education and the Legacy of Zoltan Paul Dienes (Hc)

A Volume in The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast: Monograph Series in Mathematics EducationSeries Editor Bharath Sriraman, The University of MontanaThe name of Zoltan P. Dienes (1916-) stands with those of Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner as alegendary figure whose theories of learning have left a lastin [...]
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A Volume in The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast: Monograph Series in Mathematics EducationSeries Editor Bharath Sriraman, The University of MontanaThe name of Zoltan P. Dienes (1916-) stands with those of Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner as alegendary figure whose theories of learning have left a lasting impression on the field ofmathematics education. Dienes' name is synonymous with the Multi-base blocks (also known asDienes blocks) which he invented for the teaching of place value. He also is the inventor ofAlgebraic materials and logic blocks, which sowed the seeds of contemporary uses ofmanipulative materials in mathematics instruction. Dienes' place is unique in the field ofmathematics education because of his theories on how mathematical structures can be taughtfrom the early grades onwards using multiple embodiments through manipulatives, games, stories and dance.Dienes' notion of embodied knowledge presaged other cognitive scientists who eventually came to recognize the importance ofembodied knowledge and situated cognition - where knowledge and abilities are organized around experience as much as they areorganized around abstractions. Dienes was an early pioneer in what was later to be called sociocultural perspectives anddemocratization of learning.This monograph compiled and edited by Bharath Sriraman honors the seminal contributions of Dienes to mathematics education andincludes several recent unpublished articles written by Dienes himself. These articles exemplify his principles of guided discoverylearning and reveal the non-trivial mathematical structures that can be made accessible to any student. The monograph also includes arare interview with Dienes in which he reflects on his life, his work, the role of context, language and technology in mathematicsteaching and learning today. The book finds an important place in any mathematics education library and is vital reading formathematics education researchers, cognitive scientists, prospective teachers, graduate students and teachers of mathematics.