Mathematics education research has blossomed into many different areas which we can see in the programmes of the ICME conferences as well as in the various survey articles in the Handbooks. However, all of these lines of research are trying to grapple with a common problem, the complexity of the process of learning mathematics.

Lesson study is a professional development process that teachers engage in to systematically examine their practice, with the goal of becoming more effective. Originating in Japan, lesson study has gained significant momentum in the mathematics education community in recent years. As a process for professional development, lesson study became highly visible when it was proposed as a means of supporting the common practice of promoting better teaching by disseminating documents like standards, benchmarks and nationally validated curricula. While the body of knowledge about lesson study is growing, it remains somewhat elusive and composed of discrete research endeavors. As a new research area there is no coherent knowledge base yet. This book will contribute to the field bringing the work of researchers and practitioners together to create a resource for extant work. This book describes several aspects of Lesson Study, amongst others: it gives an historical overview of the concept, it addresses issues related to learning and teaching mathematics, it looks at the role of the teacher in the process. The last two sections of the book look at how lesson Study can be used with preservice mathematics teachers and at university mathematics methods teaching.

In this volume cultural, social and cognitive influences on the research and teaching of mathematical modelling are explored from a variety of theoretical and practical perspectives. The authors of the current volume are all members of the International Community of Teachers of Mathematical Modelling and Applications, the peak research body in this field. A distinctive feature of this volume is the high number of authors from South American countries. These authors bring quite a different perspective to modelling than has been showcased in previous books in this series, in particular from a cultural point of view. As well as recent international research, there is a strong emphasis on pedagogical issues including those associated with technology and assessment, in the teaching and learning of modelling. Applications at various levels of education are exemplified. The contributions reflect common issues shared globally and represent emergent or on-going challenges.

Our objective is to publish a book that lays out the theoretical constructs and research methodologies within mathematics education that have been developed by Paul Cobb and explains the process of their development. We propose to do so by including papers in which Cobb introduced new theoretical perspectives and methodologies into the literature, each preceded by a substantive accompanying introductory paper that explains the motivation/rationale for developing the new perspectives and/or methodologies and the processes through which they were developed, and Cobb’s own retrospective comments. In this way the book provides the reader with heretofore unpublished material that lays out in considerable detail the issues and problems that Cobb has confronted in his work, that, from his viewpoint, required theoretical and methodological shifts/advances and provides insight into how he has achieved the shifts/advances. The result will be a volume that, in addition to explaining Cobb’s contributions to the field of mathematics education, also provides the reader with insight into what is involved in developing an aggressive and evolving research program. When Cobb confronts problems and issues in his work that cannot be addressed using his existing theories and frameworks, he looks to other fields for theoretical inspiration. A critical feature of Cobb’s work is that in doing so, he consciously appropriates and adapts ideas from these other fields to the purpose of supporting processes of learning and teaching mathematics; He does not simply accept the goals or motives of those fields. As a result, Cobb reconceptualizes and reframes issues and concepts so that they result in new ways of investigating, exploring, and explaining phenomena that he encounters in the practical dimensions of his work, which include working in classrooms, with teachers, and with school systems. The effect is that the field of mathematics education is altered. Other researchers have found his "new ways of looking" useful to them. And they, in turn, adapt these ideas for their own use. The complexity of many of the ideas that Cobb has introduced into the field of mathematics education can lead to a multiplicity of interpretations by practitioners and by other researchers, based on their own experiential backgrounds. Therefore, by detailing the development of Cobb’s work, including the tensions involved in coming to grips with and reconciling apparently contrasting perspectives, the book will shed additional light on the processes of reconceptualization and thus help the reader to understand the reasons, mechanisms, and outcomes of researchers’ constant pursuit of new insights.

Traditionally, researchers and mathematics education practitioners have been engaged in parallel play, yet they have been segregated by the norms and cultural practises of their distinct institutions and professional reward systems. Rarely do mutually dependent and informing intellectual pathways emerge. This book explores what happens when tradition is disrupted by one purposefully designed research and practise pathway. This book offers insights into, and examples of, developing mutually interdependent research and practise processes as part of efforts to improve teacher and leadership capacity, as well as positively influence student learning and related outcomes. This book raises valuable questions for the mathematics education community. What forms have research and practise pathways taken? What lessons have been learned from collaborations? These questions are examined to illustrate where strategic partnerships have linked research to both the design and implementation of practise and programmatic endeavors and to generate evidence to guide both educational decision making and routine modifications related to school mathematics. Editor William F. Tate offers remarks about the future of research and practise collaborations in mathematics education and maintains that research and practise collaborations should be a standard regimen in movements to improve mathematics teaching and learning.

Concerned with various aspects of language in mathematics education, this book aims to reveal some of the ambiguities and complexities in the way language is used in the mathematics curriculum. It aims to present current perspectives and review key issues in mathematics education.

This book explicates some of the fundamental philosophical tenets underpinning key theoretical frameworks, and demonstrates how these tenets inform particular kinds of research practice in mathematics education research. We believe that a deep understanding of significant theories from the humanities and social sciences is crucial for doing high-quality research in education. For that reason, this book focuses on six key theoretical sources, unpacking their relevance and application to specific research examples. We situate these key theorists within a larger framework pertaining to the history of thought more generally, and discuss how competing theories of teaching and learning differ in terms of their philosophical assumptions. In so doing, we offer context and motivation for particular research methods, with the agenda of helping researchers reflect on why particular approaches and not others might work for them.