CHAPTER 6: Three International Examples of Mathematics Content Courses for Elementary Teachers

In this chapter we describe three different approaches for implementing a mathematics content course for prospective elementary teachers, one in Canada, one in Norway, and one in the United States. Details on the research that supports each of these approaches can be found at the end of this chapter.

The Canadian case is from the province of Ontario. As elsewhere in Canada, Ontario has experienced substantive changes in the provinciallymandated elementary mathematics school curriculum. Beginning in 1997, the provincial Grades 1 to 8 curriculum was rewritten to describe content and learning processes based on the approach described in the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards documents (1989, 2000). In an attempt to prepare elementary teachers to implement this curriculum, we at Lakehead University, the origin of this first case, revised our content courses for prospective teachers to include the following topics: