In this dissertation, I present my attempts at designing an elementary mathematics methods course to support prospective teachers in developing an understanding of how to teach all students in learning powerful mathematics. To do this, I introduced them to teaching mathematics for equity and social justice by discussing ways to support students' classical, community, and critical mathematics knowledge. Throughout the semester, teachers engaged in problem solving activities, analyzed articles, student work, and videos, and reflected critically about course content and lesson plans intended to strengthen their own understanding of mathematics and mathematics education as well as how to put it in practice. To understand how the teachers' perspectives changed over the course of a semester in this practitioner inquiry study, I analyzed their mathematical autobiographies, their pre- and post-semester reflections, their weekly responses, my field notes from class meetings, my journal entries, and interviews conducted with the teachers. I was interested in how the cohort of prospective teachers responded to the content of the course, but also in how individual teachers understood and took up a teaching mathematics for equity and social justice stance. For presentation in this dissertation, I selected three prospective teachers' cases to discuss more intensively. Looking across the three cases and the cohort as a whole, the prospective teachers in this study entered the mathematics methods course with narrow and traditional views of mathematics and mathematics education. The teachers were also limited in their own understanding of mathematics. By the end of the semester, all of teachers articulated a broader sense of mathematics, more closely aligning their conceptions with the way the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics frames reform mathematics (i.e., classical mathematics). There was a range of perspectives on community and critical mathematics knowledge. Although all teachers discussed the importance of community mathematics knowledge, the degree to which the prospective teachers saw this as part of their future pedagogy differed. Also, all of the prospective teachers discussed the significance of critical mathematics knowledge, but only one was able to develop and put into practice lessons intended to support her students' critical knowledge. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]