ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Robert S. Siegler, Professor of Cognitive Psychology at Carnegie Mellon University. It explores three interconnected areas of his work, all related to mathematics, and all that expand on Jean Piaget's work: cognitive variability, the path of children's learning, and the value of working with multiple strategies. According to Siegler, the microgenetic approach can reveal the steps and circumstances that precede a change, the change itself, and how change might occur beyond its initial context. Siegler and his team kept track of the frequencies of strategy use at the different sessions and found they would change over time. Robert Siegler's research sheds light on important aspects of children's mathematical thinking and learning. Siegler agreed with teachers' assessments about doubles, and explained: Doubles are easier than other problems for at least two reasons. Siegler does recommend identifying and naming strategies explicitly, "so that students and teachers can discuss them with each other."
