ZOLTAN PAUL DIENES AND THE DYNAMICS OF MATHEMATICAL LEARNING
The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast, Monograph 2, September 2007
ISSN 1551-3440

The name of Zoltan P. Dienes (1916-) stands with those of Jean Piaget and Jerome Bruner as a legendary figure whose theories of learning have left a lasting impression on the field of mathematics education. Dienes' name is synonymous with the Multi-base blocks (also known as Dienes blocks) which he invented for the teaching of place value. He also is the inventor of Algebraic materials and logic blocks, which sowed the seeds of contemporary uses of manipulative materials in mathematics instruction. Dienes' place is unique in the field of mathematics education because of his theories on how mathematical structures can be taught from the early grades onwards using multiple embodiments through manipulatives, games, stories and dance.

Dienes' notion of embodied knowledge presaged other cognitive scientists who eventually came to recognize the importance of embodied knowledge and situated cognition - where knowledge and abilities are organized around experience as much as they are organized around abstractions. Dienes was an early pioneer in what was later to be called sociocultural perspectives and democratization of learning.

This monograph compiled and edited by Bharath Sriraman honors the seminal contributions of Dienes to mathematics education and includes several recent unpublished articles written by Dienes himself. These articles exemplify his principles of guided discovery learning and reveal the non-trivial mathematical structures that can be made accessible to any student. The monograph also includes a rare interview with Dienes in which he reflects on his life, his work, the role of context, language and technology in mathematics teaching and learning today. The book finds an important place in any mathematics education library and is vital reading for mathematics education researchers, cognitive scientists, prospective teachers, graduate students and teachers of mathematics.

Bharath Sriraman (USA)
      EDITORIAL: THE LEGACY OF ZOLTAN PAUL DIENES
      ©2007 The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast pp.i-ii

Zoltan Paul Dienes (Canada)
      SOME THOUGHTS ON THE DYNAMICS OF LEARNING MATHEMATICS
      Unpublished book of Zoltan Dienes written in 1995
      ©2007 The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast pp.1-118

Lyn D. English (Australia)
      COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION:
        REFLECTIONS ON THE PAST AND THE FUTURE
      ©2007 The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast pp.119-126

Lyn D. English (Australia)
      COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND MATHEMATICS EDUCATION
      Reprint of English,L.(1995). Cognitive psychology and mathematics
        education. In L. English & G.S. Halford, Mathematics Education:
        Models and Processes (pp. 1-20). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, NJ
      Printed with permission from Lyn D. English and Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
     ©1995 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates pp.129-148

Bharath Sriraman & Richard Lesh (USA)
      A CONVERSATION WITH ZOLTAN P. DIENES
      Reprint of Sriraman, B. & Lesh, R. (2007). Leaders in Mathematical Thinking
        & Learning- A conversation with Zoltan P. Dienes.
      Mathematical Thinking and Learning: An International Journal, 9(1), 59-75.
      Reprinted with permission from Bharath Sriraman and Lawrence Erlbaum
        Associates.
      ©2007 Lawrence Erlbaum Associates pp.151-167

James Hirstein (USA)
      THE IMPACT OF ZOLTAN DIENES ON MATHEMATICS TEACHING IN THE
        UNITED STATES
      ©2007 The Montana Mathematics Enthusiast pp.169-172