ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book considers various facets of mathematization, emphasise the importance of the study of children's interactions and discourse, and use videorecorded recorded data. It focuses on different aspects of student teachers and how they interact with the mathematics education in their teacher preparation courses. The book provides a detailed historical overview of UK work from the 1980s on in children's representations of mathematical concepts and thinking and relates this to the impact of a resource book by by A. M. Casserly, B. Tiernan, and P. Moffett designed to promote early number vocabulary. It also provides a positive stimulus for the approach and further research. The book concludes with recognition from analysis of data that 'supporting children's mathematical development involves working collaboratively with those who are in a position to facilitate meaningful, ongoing, regular, reciprocal and increasingly complex interactions with mathematics at their core'.
