An Appreciation of Efraim Fischbein, 1920-1998 Author(s): Dina Tirosh Source: Educational Studies in Mathematics, Vol. 37, No.

1 (1998 - 1999), pp. ix-x Published by: Springer Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3482679 Accessed: 01/12/2010 11:39
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OF AN APPRECIATION EFRAIMFISCHBEIN,1920-1998

EfraimFischbein died on Wednesday,22 July 1998. His death is a great loss to his family,to his studentsandcolleagues at Tel Aviv Universityand educators. to the entirecommunityof mathematics Fischbein was born in Romania,in 1920. He taughtmathematicsand philosophy in high school. In 1949 he was offered the position of lecof turerat the department Departmentof EducationalPsychology at the University of Bucharest,and from 1959 to 1975 he served as the head at of the EducationalPsychology department the Instituteof Psychology in Bucharest.His work in child development,cognitive psychology, and by mathematicseducationduringthatperiodis characterized the originaland ity of the questionshe asked,his systematicmethodsof exploration the of the data.His many books and insights he providedin the interpretation articlescreatedinternational interest,and he was frequentlyinvited, from to behindthe IronCurtain, conferencesandmeetingsin westerncountries. known as one of the By 1975, Efraim Fischbein was internationally leading researchersin mathematicseducation.After leaving Romaniafor as educaIsrael,he was offered an appointment professorof mathematics of tion at Tel Aviv Universitywhere he founded the Department Science Educationand continuedto teach, be active and creativein research,and supervisemany researchstudents,until his last moments. EfraimFischbein is best known for his creative, systematic,coherent of and influentialcontribution knowledge about,and understanding the to and role of intuitionin learningandteachingmathematics science. His first in contributions this areaconcernedintuitionsof probability combinatand orics; they establisheda strongbridgebetween psychology and education and were publishedinternationally journalsin both domains,including in EducationalStudies in Mathematicsand The British Journalof EducationalPsychology.In the prefaceto Fischbein'sbook 'Theintuitivesources of probabilisticthinkingin children'(Reidel, 1975), Hans Freudenthal reand lated warmlyto Fischbein'sapproachand wrote: 'I interpret welcome Fischbein's work as a majorbreakthrough mentalityof researchin the in field of developmentalpsychology. ... I considerFischbein's shiftingthe stressfromconceptsto intuitionsas a cognitiveadvancewhich may benefit teachingmathematics.'
Ad EducationalStudiesin Mathematics 37: ix-x, 1999.

the Fischbein'sdesire to understanding natureof intuitivethinkingandthe relationshipbetween intuitive and other forms of thinking is evidenced in his furtherwork on infinity, on implicit models of multiplicationand division, on irrational numbers,on the relationshipbetween intuitionsand proofs, on the interactionbetween the formal, the algorithmicand the intuitivecomponentsin mathematicalactivities, and other topics. In 'Intuition in Science and Mathematics'(Reidel, 1987) Fischbein proposed a theoretical,comprehensiveview of the domain of intuition, identified and organizedthe related experimentalfindings, and described and discussed theireducationalanddidacticimplications.In this book, as in other publications,he coined new, useful terminology(e.g., primaryintuitions, secondaryintuitions),raised problematicissues (e.g., the educationaldilemma) and stimulatedfurtherrelatedresearch,thus leading the field of mathematicseducationforward.It is not surprisingthat his articles were publishedin four languagesand translated into many others. Anothermajorcontribution EfraimFischbeinto the domainof mathof ematics education relates to the creation and the organizationof PME, The International Group for the Psychology of MathematicsEducation. He was the organizer, firstpresidentand an honorary the memberof PME. He actively participatedin almost all the annual meetings of PME, and contributeda great deal to the ongoing developmentof the organization. His imprinton this important constituentof our field will be felt for many years to come. At the beginningof 1998, EfraimFischbein startedworkingon a third book entitled 'Intuitions,Schemataand Models in Mathematical Sciand entific Reasoning'. Unfortunately, was unable to finish this work. But he his books, his articles,and mainly his ideas will stay with us forever,and his contribution mathematicseducationwill serve as a permanentmeto morialto him, and as a never-ending source of inspirationfor us all.

DINA TIROSH