On the teaching and learning of Dienes’ principles

Abstract

Zoltan Dienes’ principles of mathematical learninghave been an integral part of mathematics education literatureand applied both to the teaching and learning of mathematics aswell as research on processes such as abstraction andgeneralization of mathematical structures. Most extanttextbooks of cognitive learning theories in mathematicseducation include a treatment of Dienes’ seminal contributions.Yet, there are no available studies at the tertiary level on howstudents internalise the meaning of Dienes’ principles. Thispaper explores post-graduate mathematics education student’sunderstanding of Dienes’ principles and their ability toreflexively apply the principles to their own thinking onstructurally similar problems. Some implications are offered foruniversity educators engaged in the training of futureresearchers in the field.