Wouldn't the opposite scenario also be true? Sax deals with lets say two
different activity system involving money - but it seems the opposite
scenario is more often the case. Children being able to manipulate the
symbolic, but having difficulty with the concrete application. We have had
programs like CGI (cognitively guided instruction) which in practice seem
to fall right down class lines. The problems are more concrete, maybe even
authentic, yet they are also much more of a challenge to solve.
Or students that do fine manipulating the symbolic $6.00
-$4.00
but suddenly being at great pains when we are talking about if Suzie has
six dollars and Billy has four, how much more money does Suzie have?
I guess for me what I have taken from Sax is the difficulty of the
translatability of various systems of mathematical learning. Back again to
the advantages and disadvantages of scientific / everyday concepts.
Sax's "kids" interaction with money (if my memory serves me) was very
competent in mathematical activity of selling products yet they had
difficulty with the symbolic or representation aspect of similar
problems. Likewise in the states many parents introduce their children to
math through workbooks that strongly (over) emphasize the symbolic and
they struggle enormously with concrete applications like CGI.
Nate
At 12:51 PM 12/14/2000 -0500, you wrote:
>Well, Geoffry Sax addresses exactly this issue - "why
>children who cannot do 6-2=4 know that if they have $6 and lose $2 then
>they have $4 left?" and very much in the Vygotskian tradition. See his
>Culture and Cognitive Development: Studies in Mathematical Undertstanding.
>Or did you mean something else?
>Anna
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Andy Blunden [mailto:andy@mira.net]
>Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2000 5:59 AM
>To: xmca@weber.ucsd.edu
>Subject: Activity and Money
>
>
>Does anyone know of a work in the Vygotsky School which deals with money?
>
>For example, has any maths teacher in the CHAT tradition discussed why
>children who cannot do 6-2=4 know that if they have $6 and lose $2 then
>they have $4 left? Has anyone studied the development in a child of the
>idea that labour should be exchanged? of the concept of value? of why
>wage-slavery is more respectable than domestic servitude but less
>prestigious than exploiting others?
>
>There's a lot of material about knowledge, but has anyone in the Vygotsky
>school talked about ethics?
>
>Andy
>+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
>| - Andy Blunden - Home Page - http://home.mira.net/~andy/index.htm - |
>| All mysteries which lead theory to mysticism find their rational |
>| solution in human practice and in the comprehension of this practice.|
>+----------------------------------------------------------------------+
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 27 2004 - 11:29:00 PST