The answer to educating students: linking cognitive psychology, mathematics education, and learning

Lecture at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Washington D.C. -21 March 2002- America is besieged in debate over how best to educate its students. Dr. Meir Ben Hur, a cognitive psychologist and mathematics educator from Chicago, Ill., will examine questions about human learning potential, the development of higher order cognitive processes, and acquisition of new mathematical knowledge at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) on Tuesday, 26 March 2002 from 4 - 6:00 p.m. He will elaborate on the issues and approaches plaguing the student learning processes when learning mathematics and science.

Over the past three decades, elementary and secondary education students have been exposed to a sea of educational fads, from new math to whole language -- each new theory dispensed as a remedy for the failure of public schools to help American students rise to the academic success of their foreign counterparts. Dr. Ben Hur is devoted to providing professional development in mathematics and science education to middle schools across North America while advocating comprehensive school reform. He argues that the least effective method of teaching is the one still most prevalent in today's secondary classrooms -- lecturing, listening, and imitating. He is taking education to the next level by questioning widespread beliefs of accepted modes of instruction.

WHAT: AAAS Lecture: Intersections of Cognitive Psychology,
Mathematics Education, and Teaching Learning

WHEN: March 26, 2002, 4:00-6:00 P.M.; Reception immediately following

WHERE: American Association for the Advancement of Science
1200 New York Avenue, 2nd floor auditorium, NW, Washington DC

SPEAKER: Dr. Meir Ben Hur, Cognitive Psychologist and Mathematics
Educator, Virtual Learning Systems, Chicago, Illinois

RSVP: Reporters should RSVP to Monica Amarelo at 202-326-6431 or mamarelo@aaas.org
Public should RSVP to Sarah Ingraffea (AAAS) at 202-326-6670 or singraff@aaas.org