Abstrakt
The aim of the present paper is to clarify the theoretical principles of an approach to the didactics of mathematics, which has been for several decades developed by Milan Hejný. We want to suggest for this approach a new name, genetic constructivism, to distinguish it from radical constructivism with which it is often identified and on the basis of this identification also criticized.
Our text has four parts. In the first we will try to formulate the basic theoretical principles of genetic constructivism.
In the second part we will respond to the main points of criticism of Hejný's method that have been published in the texts of our distinguished psychologists Miroslav Rendl and Stanislav Štech. In the third part we use the principles of genetic constructivism to criticize the approach to teaching of mathematics, based on the concept of mathematical competence.
We will try to show that no such thing as a mathematical competence, in the strict sense of the word, does exist. In the fourth and final part we would like to briefly comment on the article by Radim Šíp which integrates Hejný's method into a broader methodological perspective.