Elementary Teachers’ Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics: A Review

Abstract

The objective of this review is to provide a clear interpretation and implication of the research for policymakers and researchers who are interested in elementary teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics. Based on the objectives, I examine 20 empirical studies in the area of elementary teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics. The fundamental criterion for grouping studies is their research questions. The studies’ research questions are related to each other to a greater or lesser detail. Thus, the research questions are categorized into four groups. The four groups are (a) how can we define elementary teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics? (b) How can instruments for measuring elementary teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics be developed? (c) What factors are to be related to elementary teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics? And (d) what are international studies saying about elementary knowledge for teaching mathematics? For each group, description of all relevant studies and findings and interpretations are presented. The analysis of studies demonstrates that expanding the field of researchers will provide new ways of examining elementary teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics and at the same time may provide critical information about affects and factors of knowledge for teaching mathematics.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n9p428