ABSTRACT
At the center of the goals proposed by the NCTM standards is the desire to create a curriculum that will increase students’ understanding of mathematical concepts and procedures. My objective in writing the two chapters in this section is to provide a theoretical context for thinking about learning with understanding. The chapters, therefore, contain examples of theories of learning, reasoning, and problem solving that have been formulated by cognitive psychologists. Chapter 2 looks at theories that emphasize rule learning, whereas chapter 3 focuses on the organization of conceptual knowledge.
