June 2009 > School News

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GSE Researchers Gain Southern Exposure at AERA Meeting

GSE Reception at AERA Slideshow.
For additional, captioned photos, visit the GSE
Network on Facebook: Reception Album.

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GSE was well represented at the American Education Research Association (AERA) Annual Meeting, April 13-17 in San Diego. More than 100 education researchers from UC Berkeley presented their findings at 175 separate peer-reviewed sessions during the five-day meeting.

Among those giving special presentations was Professor Alan Schoenfeld, who was presented with the second Senior Scholar Award by The Special Interest Group for Research in Mathematics Education (SIG/RME). The award recognizes programmatic research of a single scholar within the field of mathematics education whose work has been essential in the progress of mathematics education as a field of inquiry. The selection committee noted that Schoenfeld’s empirically grounded research has so contributed to development within the field that this body of work now serves as a primary theoretical reference on mathematical problem solving and cognition.

In his presidential session, entitled "Constructivist Instruction:Tautology or Oxymoron?" Schoenfeld dissected the successes and failures of constructivism by first explaining that “constructivist instruction” was a meaningless phrase because constructivism is a theoretical perspective, and that all instruction is constructivist. He argued that it was time to focus on things that count: "Take theory seriously; Develop and test theories more at the local, contextual level; Assess the broad spectrum of outcomes that result from learning interventions; and Use appropriate research methods rigorously."

But the award for most prolific GSE presenter had to go to Professor Mark Wilson who gave 21 submission-type sessions: nine paper, five abstract, four symposium and three governance.

Next year's meeting will be held in Denver, Colorado, April 30 - May 4.

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