ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book suggests an explanation for the paradox, at least at the elementary school level. Most Chinese teachers have had 11 to 12 years of schooling—they complete ninth grade and attend normal school for two or three years. In contrast, most United States teachers have received between 16 and 18 years of formal schooling—a bachelor’s degree in college and often one or two years of further study. Studies of teacher knowledge abound in examples of insufficient subject, but give few examples of the knowledge teachers need to support their teaching, particularly the kind of teaching demanded by reforms in mathematics education. Researchers have created general conceptual frameworks describing what teachers’ subject matter knowledge of mathematics should be. The factors that support Chinese teachers’ development of their mathematical knowledge are not present in the United States.
