Mathematical Knowledge for Teaching and the Unfolding of Tasks in Mathematics Lessons: Integrating Two Lines of Research

Abstract

This paper reports on an exploratory study investigating whether a particular type of teacher knowledge, namely teachers’ mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT), matters for teachers’ selection, presentation, and enactment of tasks. To this end, I explored the unfolding of tasks in a series of lessons given by a high- and a low-MKT teacher. The analysis of nine videotaped lessons from each teacher and the dissection of the curriculum materials these teachers employed in their lessons revealed notable differences in the unfolding of tasks in these teachers’ lessons. The results of interview data with each instructor in regard to their thinking and reasoning on selected mathematical items suggest that the aforementioned differences should not be considered unrelated to teachers’ own mathematical knowledge.