The Research Of Thorndike's Mathematical Education Thought

Adward Lee Thorndike(1874-1949),who was one of the greatest psychologists in America,founded connectionism psychology.He was a well-known mathematics educator as well.Thorndike's mathematical education thought exerted far-reaching influence on European and American countries and Japan.However,little is known about his mathematical education and mathematical psychology thought.His mathematics education thought was based on psychological experiment.He considered that the nature of mathematical learning is to form various mathematical connections(stimulus-response).Mathematical knowledge and ability are only the hierachy system of diverse connections and habits of mathematics.He initiated the trial and error teaching method and emphasized that reasonable arrangement of mathematical topics and moderate practice are significant for developing and strengthening mathematical bonds.The essence of mathematical ability is a stable personality characteristic that the individual shows different reaction to different mathematical problems.It is the formation and enforcement of beneficial bonds.He had a novel view of the interests in learning mathematics and pointed out that interests are“sugar-coating medicine”,not “pure sugar”.Interests are supposed be in the whole process of students' learning and make learning stay active.On thebasis of the experiment,the individual difference and gender difference of mathematical ability are discussed.The article analyzes mathematical educational viewpoints of Thorndike presented by his works deeply on the basis of relative mathematical education and psychological works,refines his ideas or thought on mathematical education in the books as well.It is the research of Thorndike's mathematical educational thought that enriches mathematical educational theories and mathematical psychological theories of our country to some extent.Moreover,it can provides new perspective for our country's some respects on mathematical classroom teaching.The paper is divided five parts:Chapter 1 Introduction.It includes propose the problems,the purpose and meaning of the research,current research status in domestic and abroad,research methods and innovative points on Thorndike's mathematics education thought.Chapter 2 Thorndike's brief biography and main works.This part introduces the experiences of Thorndike in his life in detail and presents his viewpoints in his main works on mathematical pedagogy and mathematical psychology.The representative works are The Thorndike Arithmetics,The New Methods in Arithmetic,The Psychology of Arithmetic and The Psychology of Algebra.Chapter 3 The mathematical teaching view of Thorndike.It specifically discusses the choice and arrangement of mathematical topics,the amount anddistribution of mathematical practice and mathematical teaching methods,which analyze his opinion on mathematical teaching deeply and absorb its beneficial elements so as to provide inspiration for classroom teaching.Chapter 4 Thorndike's mathematical learning viewpoint.It illustrates the nature and conditions of mathematics learning,the interests in learning mathematics,the view of mathematical abilities,individual difference and sex difference in mathematics learning,which will open new horizon for developing mathematical classroom teaching.Chapter 5 Conclusion.The part summarizes the significance of Thorndike's mathematical education to modern mathematics classroom teaching.Meanwhile,his thought is supposed to be viewed dialectically.From the perspectives of other scholars,the limitations of his some ideas are explained and expectations await further research.