Mathematics Teacher Change and Developments

Abstract

The chapter focuses on impacts of mathematics teachers’ beliefs on their ability and tendency to change. A discussion of common definitions of belief precedes a review of reports about elementary, middle, and high school mathematics teachers’ beliefs from three international research journals (1995–1999). Implications of the reports’ often implicit definitions of beliefs are considered, as well as other implications for teacher change. For example, an assumption that beliefs are dispositions to act in certain ways, rather than simply verbal proclamations, leads to data collection methods that involve both discussions with and observations of teachers. The reports also point out the need to reconsider a tendency to separate teachers’ mathematical and pedagogical beliefs.