Background: A Call to ActionSource: Journal for Research in Mathematics Education. Monograph, Vol. 4, ConstructivistViews on the Teaching and Learning of Mathematics (1990), p. ixPublished by: National Council of Teachers of MathematicsStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/749907 .

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Background: A Call to Action

This monograph grew out of a cooperative effort to improve the teaching and learning of

mathematics, although in the beginning no thought was given to writing a treatise on

constructivism. At the October 1985 meeting of the North American Section of the International

Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME-NA) in Columbus, Ohio a group of

approximately fifteen mathematics educators concerned about the current status of mathematics

education met to discuss the need to address important issues regarding research on teaching and learning mathematics. At this meeting the decision was made to establish a national steering committee charged with planning a national conference to address important issues related to

teaching and learning. Members of this committee were Jere Confrey (Cornell University), Gerald A. Goldin (Rutgers University), Richard Lesh (presently with Educational Testing Service, Princeton), Carolyn A. Maher, Chair and Organizer (Rutgers University), Nel

Noddings (Stanford University) and Karen Schultz (Georgia State University). It was decided

that this conference would be held at Rutgers University and that nationally prominent mathematics educators would be invited to participate.

The goal of the conference was to propose practical programs for reform in teaching and

learning mathematics. Ten speakers, each widely regarded as an authority in mathematics

education, were invited to prepare papers describing their work and ideas. These papers were

distributed in advance of the conference to all participants in order to enhance the quality of the

discussions. Because it was recognized that the exchanges of view among the theorists,

researchers, and practitioners of mathematics education would enrich any proposals for action

that might come out of the conference, it was decided that a representative audience of educators

would react to and evaluate critically the proposals presented. One common theme of the papers and the discussions of them was that an individual's views about the nature of mathematical

activity have direct bearing on the ways in which reform in mathematics education can be

approached. Furthermore, it was generally accepted that a constructivist perspective offered the

greatest promise in this regard. This monograph, then, represents the culmination of five years of collaborative discussions among individuals interested in improving the teaching and learning of mathematics.

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