The Role of Mathematics Teachers' Content Knowledge in their Teaching: A Framework for Research applied to a Study of Student Teachers

The authors develop and explain a framework toguide research on the relationship betweenmathematics teachers' knowledge of content andtheir teaching. The framework istwo-dimensional. The dimensions are (a) theelements of teaching and (b) the processes ofteaching in which knowledge of content is ofconsequence. The interplay between the elementsof teaching and the processes of teaching isdiscussed theoretically, consideringconnections to existing literature about therole of teachers' subject matter knowledge.Three vignettes from the authors' work withpre-service secondary mathematics teachersinvestigate further the relationship betweencontent knowledge and effective mathematicsteaching. The vignettes also serve toillustrate the complexity of investigationsinto this relationship. Direction is offeredfor use of the framework in future research.