ABSTRACT
When authors in this book describe classrooms that promote mathematical understanding, they each attempt to answer the question: What mathematics is it that students are expected to understand? The answers these authors give, however, may surprise some readers because although the titles of the mathematical domains described—number, geometry, quantities, statistics, and algebra—are familiar, the approach to discussing them is not. Rather than providing a list of specific concepts and skills to be mastered as has often been done in the past, each author focuses on a few key ideas in a domain, the interconnections between them, and examples of how students can grasp an understanding of the ideas as a consequence of exploring problem situations. The descriptions of mathematical content in this book are based on the epistemological shift in expectations about school mathematics that has emerged during the past decade; the chapters reflect attempts to redefine content in light of that shift.
