Think of the mind of a child as a large, dark,
domed arena. Before the arena can really be useful as the site of
events, the dome must be sufficiently illuminated. So too with the mind of a child. It must first
be sufficiently illuminated (enlightened) to maximize its
capabilities.
In classical non-constructivist classrooms,
teachers try to illuminate (enlighten) the mind by lighting lots
of individual candles. One here, one
there, some times two, three, five or even fifty or a hundred. The more candles lighted, the more that can be
seen (i.e., the more knowledge students acquire and the more they
can utilize the mind to solve problems).Eventually,
enough candles are lighted so the mind is sufficiently
enlightened to serve the child well.
In this conceptualization, enlightenment (i.e.,
education or knowledge acquisition) is seen as the accumulation
of many small, separate bits or fragments of information and
experience, which it is hoped will lead eventually to the
understanding of important concepts and skills.
Effective perhaps, but surely tedious and
inefficient.
Imagine, however, this more constructivist
alternative. The large, dark, domed arena has a
built in electrical system that covers the entire dome with a
few, large panels of light bulbs. Each of these few panels is
lighted by simply flipping a single switch. Once a few switches
are flipped, the entire dome will literally light up almost
instantaneously. In this conceptualization, the
educators challenge is to find and flip the light switches that
enlighten the child.
Dr. Super believes that in the study of
mathematics the light switches and located and flipped - with an
"aha!" or even a "wow!" - when children
explore and dicover mathematical concepts and aquire skills in a
hands-on, activity oriented curriculum using manipulatives to
solve puzzles or while they participate in games.
We hope that you will actually experience some of
the same enlightenment and joy possible for students when they
discover mathematics ideas and skills in an activity centered
learning environment as you explore Dr. Super's Math
manipulatives.
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