Why do schools teach mathematics, and why do they teach the mathematics that they do? In this three-part dissertation, I argue that the justifications offered by national education systems are not convincing, and that students are tested on content whose purpose neither they nor their teachers clearly understand. In the first part of the…

The purpose of this study was to obtain the attitudes and beliefs of mathematics teachers in the School District of Philadelphia regarding an eighth grade middle school mathematics core curriculum. This study explored the attitudes and beliefs of teachers in the reform of an eighth grade math "Core Curriculum, Math In Context" (School…

The purpose of this Executive Position Paper is to examine the ways in which teachers learn to implement a new mathematics curriculum. The four case study teachers described in this paper were in their first and second year of teaching the "Investigations" curriculum. In the course of learning to teach with "Investigations," the teachers were…

Choosing challenging problems to facilitate student learning of new mathematics is a difficult task so by using open-ended problems with prospective mathematics teachers, the potential solution characteristics were studied. It is shown that considering the conceptual diversity of solutions helps students develop a better sense of different…

Author tries to clarify some of the controversy around the new math as to its success or failure, as well as its origins. (GB)

Author introduces distinctions that occur between the inductive and deductive approaches to mathematical analysis thereby helping teachers, interested in innovative teaching methods, to understand more clearly the problems they are up against. (Author/RK)

Author proposes a mixture of old and new math in order to get to the right math. (GB)

The concept of function is central to the teaching and learning of mathematics. As a mathematical notion, the concept of function is fundamental, yet powerful, and is a unifying theme that is found running throughout most branches of mathematics. Until quite recently, when it came to the elementary transcendental functions it was commonly…

Discussed are some questionable practices involving the teaching of mathematics to prospective elementary school teachers. NCTM is challenged to delineate the spirit and content of mathematics courses required of elementary teachers. (CT)

Foreseen for the future of school mathematics in the U.S. is an increased interest in developing interdisciplinary approaches to educating the individual, greater emphasis on learning by doing, and a search for the kind of mathematics that is relevant to our society. (Author/AM)

A pilot study was conducted of the understanding of prospective elementary school teachers of mathematical concepts. Purposes were to test the diagnostic instrument used to measure comprehension of concepts and to determine whether American College Test mathematics scores of student teachers could be used to predict ability to understand concepts…

Questionnaires administered to 3,500 math teachers explored professional background, learning objectives, classroom organization, teaching techniques, and textbook use. Apparently math teaching has changed little in 15 years; little impact of "new math" was seen. Moreover, teachers considered computational skills and algebraic manipulation as most…

Mathematical research, automation machinery, and automatic digital computing machines are among the causes for the revolution in mathematics curriculum. Author traces the history of mathematics development and future curriculum development. (RK)