The concept of mathemagenic activities: How learners play an important role in the learning process
You can lead a horse to water but the only water that gets into his stomach is what he drinks
Ernst Rothkopf, a psychologist, coined the term “mathemagenic activities” in 1970 to describe behaviors that give birth to learning. According to Rothkopf, learning depends on what is offered and more on what the learner does with the information offered. Mathemagenic activities are learner actions that are relevant to the achievement of specified instructional objectives. They are activities that promote learning and determine what is learned.
For Rothkopf, the teacher can offer everything, but the learner has the last word.
Learners have veto power over their learning. If they focus on facts while reading a text or listening to a lesson, they will learn and probably remember the facts. However, if they think about how to use the information while reading or listening, they will hopefully learn how to apply it. Ultimately, the learner has to process the material that the teacher offers, and this process of processing is what determines what is learned.
There are many activities that a student can carry out to process the material.
Some have a positive effect on learning, some are neutral, and some even work counterproductively. Activities such as presenting learners with questions before or after the to-be-learnt materials or giving a quiz induce specific mathemagenic positive activities. Other activities such as highlighting, underlining, or re-reading texts are, in principle, mathemagenic neutral activities. However, activities such as attuning tasks to so-called learning styles or summarizing something without having learned to make a good summary are mathemagenic negative, as they interfere with learning.
To determine which activities are mathemagenic and which are not, Rothkopf suggests that we first need to describe the activities precisely and then link them to a particular learning objective in a given situation. These last two aspects are extremely important because learning is a complex process.
Rothkopf’s theory of mathemagenic activities was one of the first theories that saw the learner as central to the learning process as opposed to the curriculum or the teacher. This theory implies that learners play an important role in determining what is learned.
In conclusion
Understanding the concept of mathemagenic activities is important for teachers and learners alike. Teachers can be the driving force to stimulate students to carry out those activities that promote learning, while learners must process the material offered to them to determine what they learn. By understanding which activities are mathemagenic, teachers and learners can work together to ensure effective learning.
Reference:
Rothkopf, E. Z. (1970). The concept of mathemagenic activities. Review of Educational Research, 40, 325–336. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543040003325
