QUESTION:

Dear Professor Von Glasersfeld

I had the opportunity to study after my degree Mathematics Didactics in

1991 under Professor Piet Humand and Alwyn Olivier at the University of

Stellenbosch, South Africa. The developed – in line with other – the

so-called Problem Centred Learning approach to Mathematics education in

South Africa in the 1980’s. Their work was based on socio-constructivism

and the work of Jean Piaget. Your thinking and ideas were often quoted in

lectures and in papers.

These ideas opened a whole new world for me – on how people learn

and construct new knowledge and also the challenge to create rich

learning contexts or learning opportunities for learners.

I taught for 4 years in a high school (Mathematics and Science), for 5

years in adult education (teaching mathematics to adults with less than 9

years of schooling) and eventually got involved in broader adult education

in impoverished coastal communities in South Africa as part of poverty

relief projects from our government. Here our focus changed to educating

people about sustainable communities, looking at the social, economic and

environmental aspects of these communities.

I got involved in Holistic Management and realised what was missing in living
harmoniously with people and nature. I just finished the two year certified educator
course to teach/facilitate Holistic Management.

Now my question(s):

* Holistic Management requires some real paradigm shifts. This

means that people cannot "see" the new insights easily in

terms of their existing knowledge. Based on constructivist

learning and the distinction between knowledge types, what will

the best way(s) to help me teach Holistic Management to other

people (children, adults). I guess that most of the knowledge

will fit under the "Empirical Knowledge" type. If you are

interested, I can give you examples of what I mean by "key

insights" etc.

* Within the Holistic Management movement we also lack a

underlying learning theory that can help us to understand and

create high quality learning experiences. What does the best

consultants and lecturers in the world do to create rich, long

lasting learning experiences.(I think of well known people like

Peter Senge) This is especially complex because we work in a

"holistic" way. Any help will be appreciated.

Best wishes

Jozua

Jozua Lambrechts

Sel/Cell: 083 310 1940

E-pos/E-mail: jozua@websurf.co.za

 

ANSWER:

 

Dear Mr. Lambrechts,

I'm afraid I have never heard of "holistic management" and

from your letter it is not really clear to me what it is and what it

does.

I have occasionally written about learning and you will find

several papers on that topic if you look through my bibliography at

http://www.univie.ac.at/constructivism/EvG/ . I would suggest you

download the paper # 082, "Learning as constructive activity",

available at that web site. If you have questions after you have read

it, I'll try to answer them

 

Best Wishes,

Ernst von Glasersfeld

 

 

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