The match between

Constructivism and qualitative

research in exploring
mathematics pedagogical
issues

13 Dec 2006
Assoc. Prof Dr Fatimah Saleh
Pusat Pengajian Ilmu Pendidikan
 Research style
 Level of
 Aim of the research investigator
 Specific analysis intervention
objective  Available resources
 Associated research  The time frame
questions  aesthetics
 The preferred
paradigm
 The degree of the
desired research
control
 Five aims of scientific inquiry
3. Explanation-
1. Identification 2. Description generation

EXPLORATORY

4.Explanation- 5. Control
testing
 Identification

- researchers create concept

based on some ‘gut’ feelings, their
own reasoning, or the literature.
-to show something really exist out
there
- exploratory based
 Description

-qualitative description, to explore

meanings or to understand the
phenomena
-quantitative description, refer to
descriptive statistics
- normative description, seeks to
establish norms and value of
phenomena
 Explanation-generation/association

- interpretive explanation-generate
- statistical explanation-generation
- deductive explanation, seek for
patterns on personal experience of
the phenomena under question
 Constructivism

 “Theory of knowledge with roots

in philosophy, psychology and
cybernetics”

Von Glasersfeld
 Constructivism….philosophy to practice
 A philosophy of learning founded on the
premise that, by reflecting on our
experiences, we construct our own
understanding of the world we live in.
Each of us generates our own “rules” and
“mental model” which we use to make
sense of our experiences. Learning,
therefore, is simply the process of
adjusting our mental models to
accommodate new experiences.
 The practice of teaching and
learning
 Knowledge is actively constructed by
the learner, not passively received
from the environment
 How do we perceive knowledge and
the process of knowing provides the
basis for educational practice
 How it matches?
 Paradigms, represent a patterned set of
assumptions concerning reality (ontology),
knowledge about reality (epistemology),
and the particular ways of knowing
(methodology)
 Decide what assumptions are
acceptable and appropriate for the
topic of interest
 Paradigms
 Materialistic inquiry, refers to knowledge
that helps us maintain physical life ,our
labour and technology
 Constructivist inquiry (naturalistic), refers
to knowledge that helps us maintain
cultural life, our symbolic communication
and meaning
 Critical/ecological inquiry, refers to
knowledge which helps us to maintain our
social life, focuses on the reality of
domination, distribution of power and
associated inequalities
 Shiva’s Circle of Constuctivist Inquiry

Investigation
/design

Experience/ Discovery/Data
collection
Anomaly

Interpretation/
Analysis
Explanation/
Theory
 Terima kasih

Semoga berjaya menjalankan

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