Knowing Mathematics for Teaching: Who Knows Mathematics Well Enough To Teach Third Grade, and How Can We Decide?

Abstract

In this article, the authors describe a program of research they have been developing for more than a decade into the mathematical knowledge and skills that are used in teaching. Their research begins with examining the actual work of teaching elementary school mathematics and noting all of the challenges in this work that draw on mathematical resources; this is followed by analyzing of the nature of such mathematical knowledge and skills – how they are held and used – in the work of teaching. Through this type of analyses, they've derived a practice-based portrait of what they call “mathematical knowledge for teaching.” This article traces the development of these ideas and describes this professional knowledge of mathematics for teaching.