9: Developing Mathematical Pedagogical Knowledge by Evaluating Instructional Materials

A wealth of resources is available for teachers to use and examine online and in print. As a result, developing teachers’ ability to evaluate materials is an important aspect of their mathematical pedagogical knowledge for teaching. The analysis of materials combines an understanding of mathematics content, the nature of learning, and the nature of teaching. In this chapter, we present two studies of preservice teachers’ analysis of materials for teaching (e.g., curriculum, technology tools). We independently designed tasks for mathematics methods courses we taught at the elementary and secondary levels, and then found that there were shared characteristics of the tasks independent of the course. Analysis of student responses indicated common characteristics of mathematics teacher learning independent of grade level. The purpose of this chapter is to describe a design process for eliciting preservice teachers’ mathematical understanding in a pedagogical context.