Japanese and American Teachers' Implicit Theories of Mathematics Learning and Instruction

Background

While American mathematics teachers are having a difficult time shifting from their traditional approach to instruction to the widely recommended "constructivist" approach, Japanese mathematics teachers consistently and successfully use a constructivist approach in their elementary school classrooms (eg. Stigler, Fernandez & Yoshida, 1990). Research suggests that teachers' beliefs about mathematics and instrustion exert a large influence on their classroom behavior (eg. Thompson, 1992).