Editing Herbert A. Simon (section)

===Pedagogy===
Simon's work has strongly influenced [[John Mighton]], developer of a program that has achieved significant success in improving mathematics performance among elementary and high school students.<ref name="tvo">"John Mighton: The Ubiquitous Bell Curve", in ''[[Big Ideas (TV series)|Big Ideas]]'' on [[TVOntario]], broadcast 1:30 a.m., November 6, 2010.</ref> Mighton cites a 2000 paper by Simon and two coauthors that counters arguments by French mathematics educator, [[Guy Brousseau]], and others suggesting that excessive practice hampers children's understanding:<ref name="tvo" />

{{Blockquote|text=[The] criticism of practice (called "drill and kill," as if this phrase constituted empirical evaluation) is prominent in constructivist writings. Nothing flies more in the face of the last 20 years of research than the assertion that practice is bad. All evidence, from the laboratory and from extensive case studies of professionals, indicates that real competence only comes with extensive practice... In denying the critical role of practice one is denying children the very thing they need to achieve real competence. The instructional task is not to "kill" motivation by demanding drill, but to find tasks that provide practice while at the same time sustaining interest.|author=[[John Robert Anderson (psychologist)|John R. Anderson]], [[Lynne M. Reder]], and Herbert A. Simon|source="Applications and misapplications of cognitive psychology to mathematics education", ''Texas Educational Review'' 6 (2000)<ref>"[http://act-r.psy.cmu.edu/papers/misapplied.html Applications and misapplications of cognitive psychology to mathematics education]", ''Texas Educational Review'' 6 (2000)</ref>}}