Basic Skills versus Conceptual Understanding. A Bogus Dichotomy in Mathematics Education.

Abstract

Abstract: The distinction between conceptual understanding and basic skills is as old as mathematics education research itself. It still remains a central issue for many disputes. In this paper, building upon professor Hung-Hsi Wu’s rejection of the distinction, I explore three possible accounts of it: (a) conceptual understanding first, (b) explaining the distinction away and emphasizing “procedural-understanding ” instead, and finally (c) treating understanding and procedural skill as two separate, irreducible, complementary components. In contrast to Wu who favors the second account, I argue that as far as mathematics teaching is concerned the third view is the preferable one. Kurzreferat: Die Unterscheidung zwischen begrifflichem Verstehen und algorithmischem Können1 ist so alt wie die Didaktik-Forschung selbst. Sie bleibt bis