This theory is implicit in many mathematics textbooks and schemes, albeit combined with other lass purist perspectives. Thus hierarchical structures are found in many books and workcard schemes, such as the School Mathematics Project books and schemes of the 1960 and 1970s.
The theory of learning concerns the reception and understanding of a large, logically structured body of mathematical knowledge, and the modes of thought associated with it. The successful learner internalizes the pure conceptual structure of mathematics : a hierarchical network of concepts and propositions interconnected by logical links, mathematical relationships and fundamental ideas, mirroring the organization of mathematics. Properly learned, mathematical knowledge allows the learner to solve mathematical problems and puzzles. Students are expected to come up with different approaches and methods, in applying this knowledge, according to their talents and ingenuity.
Theory of teaching mathematics
The teacher’s role, according to this perspective, is that of lecturer and explainer, communicating the structure of mathematics meaningfully. The teacher should inspire through an exciting delivery, should enrich the mathematics course with additional problems and activities, adapting the structured textbook approach. At best, various approaches, demonstrations and activities are employed to motivate and facilitate learning and understanding. Teaching entails a benign master-pupil relationship; the master, possessor of the knowledge, transmits it to the pupil, as effectively as possible. Thus, according to Hardy
In mathematics there is one thing only of prim importance, that a teacher should make an honest attempt to understand the subject he teaches as well as he can, and should expound the truth to his pupils to his pupils to the limits of their patience and capacity.
(Ministry of Education, 1958,pageiii)
Overall, the ethos is that of ‘teaching mathematics’, as opposed to ‘teaching children’; the traditional secondary school rather than the modern primary school ethos.