ABSTRACT
With the preceding exploration of mathematics at hand, we now turn to our work that occupies the remainder of this book: critically examining mathematics education. This chapter introduces these efforts first with a review of four books from popular mathematics education literature that question the ways mathematics education is typically conceived. These will introduce the tenets central to reform mathematics education, the first step in teaching mathematics with a critical perspective. In the second half of the chapter, we look at the modern practice of teaching mathematics within a typical school. This acknowledges the fact that many of you work or will work within this space. Here our goal will be to examine school mathematics’ typical structure, meaning the lesson plan, deemed so essential to classroom mathematics teaching. This will allow us to consider how we can incorporate the critical perspectives contained throughout this book into your teaching practice.
