Investigates whether new teaching resources and minimal support could help teachers make a difference to children's understanding of decimal numeration. Indicates that teachers who used the resources achieved an educationally and statistically significant improvement in decimal understanding. (Contains 19 references.) (Author/ASK)

Considers 33 preservice secondary mathematics teachers' solutions to a famous sampling problem with particular interest on the use of intuition and/or formal mathematics in reaching a conclusion. Considers the relationship of solution strategy to students' background in formal mathematics and gender. Discusses implications for teaching statistics…

Argues that research efforts need to be invested in preservice teacher education if genuine and lasting reform of mathematics teaching is to be achieved. Draws parallels between two separate studies, which applied sociocultural theories of learning to explore the nature of expert scaffolding in structuring learners' thinking. (Contains 30…

Considers research literature, which suggests that a learning community can be a powerful agent in helping students reflect on their beliefs, and that computer-mediated conferencing tools can be effective in developing an electronic learning community. Investigates a web-based intervention that encourages dialogue about mathematics between an…

Brings primary and elementary school teachers together to develop a package of exemplary assessment tasks, rich in potential, to provide data on students' mathematical understandings and knowledge while relating to a new assessment framework. Reports on the teachers' reactions to the collaborative writing process and evaluates the effectiveness of…

Observes seven trainee mathematics teachers completing a one-year, post-graduate secondary teaching diploma as part of a larger research project. Researchers ranked the preservice teachers in terms of their future effectiveness using two methods of ranking. The correlations between the two rankings were high. (Contains 15 references.) (Author/ASK)

Reports the data from 242 beginning student teachers in New Zealand about their feelings/attitudes toward mathematics, and from 166 of them regarding their understanding of mathematics. Indicates that a significant proportion of the students have deeply negative feelings/attitudes and lack understanding of relatively simple mathematics. (Contains…

Reports on the implementation of a four-year project exploring effective and alternative assessment items in a primary mathematics education course. Provides a rationale for using posters in preservice education and discusses the development of criteria for effective posters. Concludes with a practical recommendation for the implementation of…

Questions the philosophy of past and present humanistic notions of agency, which frame practice in teacher education and development programs. Looks back over the past 10 years or so at primary and early childhood teacher education and some initiatives and eventual competent implementation of innovative teaching approaches. (Contains 21…

Engages current poststructual debates over knowledge and subjectivity for a discussion on teacher education. Explores how modern assumptions have shaped self-understanding in terms of which many educators make sense of their work. Critiques these ideas and works to reconstruct them in order to meet the challenge posed by postmodernism, drawing on…