ABSTRACT
There is a growing recognition that subject matter shapes the way teachers teach, (e.g. Stodolsky, 1988), indeed Shulman (1986a; 1986b) has suggested that research on subject matter in teaching is the missing paradigm. Nowhere has this been more widely accepted than in mathematics. Researchers have focused on teacher and student-teacher knowledge, and in particular on their ability to deploy a variety of representations of mathematical knowledge in teaching (Lampert, 1985; Ball 1990a; Cohen and Peterson, 1990). In an overview on teaching mathematics for understanding, Ball (1991) argues for the three specific criteria of correctness, meaning and connectedness, for teachers’ substantive knowledge. In addition, a number of researchers have extended the field of enquiry, to consider the breadth of teachers’ knowledge of mathematics, as well as their attitudes and beliefs concerning the discipline (Ernest, 1989; McDiarmid and Wilson, 1991; Thompson, 1984).
