ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book offers an insight into pedagogical theories and practices in school mathematics and a bird's-eye view of international studies on mathematics learning and teaching. It reviews sequentially the evolution of educational effectiveness research (EER), early American literature on teaching effectiveness research (TER), British literature on TER and other nations' literature on TER. The book examines the line of research purposes and questions, establishes the integrated paradigm and sets within it multiple methods for collecting and analysing data across classrooms and nations. It presents the background information about the children participating in the study and gives an overview about teachers and their professional selves. The book provides reliable ways for improving maths teaching across nations. It discusses the contributions, indications and limitations of the study and foresees potential directions for future research and teaching innovations.
