Studies have reported that pre-service teachers often enter teacher preparation programs with beliefs and attitudes not conducive to teaching the subject conceptually. In the USA, the Common Core State Standards for Mathematics have brought a renewed focus on procedural and conceptual understanding. However, many U.S. pre-service teachers have…

Teams of educators conducted lesson study independently, supported by a resource kit that included mathematical tasks, curriculum materials, lesson videos and plans, and research articles, as well as protocols to support lesson study. The mathematical resources focused on linear measurement interpretation of fractions. This report examines the…

In recent years, the mathematics education research community has given increased focus to the use of cognitively demanding, challenging tasks and the demands placed on students and teachers by their use. In particular, there is evidence that a major issue is students' lack of persistence when working on such tasks. In this article, we report…

This paper reports on an investigation into pre-service teachers' mathematical content knowledge and their ability to interpret students' responses to a multi-digit multiplication task and make subsequent appropriate teaching decisions. Using a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, the researchers tested aspects of the…

This paper reports on the trial of video excerpts of mathematics teaching used in teaching pre-service primary teachers in a four-year undergraduate teacher education degree program. After viewing a video excerpt of teaching a basic mathematics concept, pre-service teachers were asked to identify the focus of the lesson and aspects of the…

The limited mathematical knowledge of preservice primary teachers is an international concern. The areas of mathematical difficulties have been well documented, which has led to many universities instituting testing regimes to ensure that preservice teachers have appropriate knowledge of primary school mathematics. In our study, the preservice…

Establishing the mathematical content knowledge of pre-service teachers is a requirement in New Zealand. However, this knowledge is not clearly defined and is a challenge for initial teacher education providers to assess. We develop the concept of foundation content knowledge and suggest how it can be assessed using two forms of diagnostic…

There remains a lack of empirical evidence about the relationship between the level of mathematics studied at high school and within tertiary degrees and primary school pre-service teachers' success in curriculum subjects. Further, there is little evidence to inform the structure and delivery of mathematics teacher preparation. In this study, the…

This article presents findings from a study in which the author served as an expert coach and provided ongoing support to four elementary school teachers related to employing standards-based pedagogies in their mathematics classrooms. In addition to assisting teachers, the author examined which supports they sought and the impact of them on…

A Mathematics course for elementary school teachers (MFET) is required in North America in most teacher education programs. Our study investigates the perceptions of prospective elementary school teachers with respect to the contributions of such a course to their teaching. The results show that acquiring an understanding of concepts from the…

This study identified qualities of influential facilitators of elementary mathematics professional development. Extensive research relating to elementary mathematics professional development has emerged over the past three decades. Embedded in this body of research are recommendations for effective practices in professional development and…

This paper examines the pedagogical and organisational changes three lead teachers made to their statistics teaching and learning programs. The lead teachers posed the research question: What would the effect of contextually integrating statistical investigations and literacies into other curriculum areas be on student achievement? By finding the…

Queensland's primary school teachers have experienced change in every Key Learning Area in the last few years. This avalanche of curriculum reform is set to continue as schools prepare for the imminent release of the Australian national curriculum. This article reports on one school's approach to dealing with this avalanche of curriculum reform.…

The implementation of a new mathematics syllabus in the elementary context is problematic, especially if it contains a new content area. A professional development model, Transformative Teaching in the Early Years Mathematics (TTEYM) was specifically developed to support the implementation of the new Patterns and Algebra strand. The model was…

In mathematics teacher education, tasks that centre on doing mathematics are used for a variety of purposes, including learning new mathematics. In our research, we focus on doing mathematics as a therapeutic intervention. Many pre-service teachers in our program narrate impoverished mathematics experiences. We engage pre-service elementary school…