IMPLICATIONS OF CONSTRUCTIVISM FOR TEACHING MATH TO STUDENTS WITH MODERATE TO MILD DISABILITIES

This article defines constructivism and examines the theory in terms o f the view of the learner, the content, teacher-student interactions, motivation, and assessment. The standards generated by the National Co uncil of Teachers of Mathematics are reviewed in terms of their sensit ivity to students with moderate to mild disabilities. Constructivistic teaching principles are abstracted from the constructivism and learni ng strategy literature and research. Nineteen instructional components are identified and discussed in terms of teacher behaviors, teacher m odeling of explicit strategies, teacher-student interactions, instruct ional content, and learning factors. An analysis of these components r eveals that most constructivists adopt an exogenous constructivistic a pproach to teaching math to students with moderate to mild disabilitie s. Finally, obstacles to applying research-based constructivistic comp onents in classrooms are identified.