ABSTRACT
Of Fundamental Mathematics The previous four chapters depicted U.S. and Chinese teachers’ knowledge of four topics in elementary mathematics. There was a striking contrast in the knowledge of the two groups of teachers studied. The 23 “above average” U.S. teachers tended to be procedurally focused. Most showed sound algorithmic competence in two beginning topics, whole number subtraction and multiplication, but had difficulty with two more advanced topics, division by fractions, and perimeter and area of a rectangle. Although they came from schools whose quality ranged from excellent to mediocre, most of the 72 Chinese teachers demonstrated algorithmic competence as well as conceptual understanding of all four topics. This chapter is devoted to discussion of the teachers’ knowledge across the particular topics.
