ABSTRACT
The years since 1989 have been rich and productive ones in the field of mathematics teacher education. The National Council for Teachers of Mathematics’ (NCTM) Curriculum and Evaluation Standards for School Mathematics (1989) and Professional Standards for Teaching Mathematics (1991) set mathematics education on a new track, and the Standards documents, together with the epistemological position that undergirds them, have had important implications for thought about the nature of mathematics teaching. Based as they are on a sociocon-structivist view of the nature of mathematical knowledge, in which knowledge is taken to be the product of the intellectual work of communities of creative individuals, the Standards documents imply a new role for teachers as facilitators of the development of students’ mathematical thought, rather than as deliverers of concepts, facts, and skills. No longer is it adequate for teachers to turn the textbook page to the next day’s topic, present students with the new ideas discussed there, and provide opportunities for practice in applying them. The view that each learner comes into the classroom with existing ideas, and uses new experiences and data to expand and extend those ideas, implies a new view of teaching. Such a perspective requires attending to the state of students’ mathematical thinking and building an intellectually rich material and social environment through which students’ thinking can be both supported and challenged.
