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Strategies for Affecting the Necessary Course of Cognitive Growth as an Integral Part of Curricular and Instructional Planning

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Abstract

This paper explores the public awareness that there presently exists a crisis in mathematics education and a “dumbingdown" of the curriculum, examines the nature of this crisis and argues that there has been a lowering of cultural, pedagogical and cognitive expectations with respect to most learners. The notion of cognitive development in mathematics education is re-examined and a model of how the concepts of learners can be transformed in the very process of engaging with the conceptual revolutions that defined geometry is proposed. The importance of cultivating a meta-narrative in support of metacognition and the development of cognitive growth are stressed.

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Carson, R.N., Rowlands, S. Strategies for Affecting the Necessary Course of Cognitive Growth as an Integral Part of Curricular and Instructional Planning. Interchange 38, 137–165 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10780-007-9020-5

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