ABSTRACT
Having Looked At the complexity of mathematics, what are the implications for student teachers? We have seen that mathematics is an activity carried out across cultures and throughout time, and that school mathematics has its own particular, and fairly recent, place in the scheme of things. The assumption is that by setting up compulsory education and creating the roles of teacher and pupil we can ensure learning, but this is by no means straightforward. Griffin (1989) examines this dilemma by using John Mason's words: ‘Teaching takes place in time, learning takes place over time’.
