The Role of Mathematics Teachers' Content Knowledge in their Teaching: A Framework for Research applied to a Study of Student Teachers

The authors develop and explain a framework to guide research on the relationship between mathematics teachers' knowledge of content and their teaching. The framework is two-dimensional. The dimensions are (a) the elements of teaching and (b) the processes of teaching in which knowledge of content is of consequence. The interplay between the elements of teaching and the processes of teaching is discussed theoretically, considering connections to existing literature about the role of teachers' subject matter knowledge. Three vignettes from the authors' work with pre-service secondary mathematics teachers investigate further the relationship between content knowledge and effective mathematics teaching. The vignettes also serve to illustrate the complexity of investigations into this relationship. Direction is offered for use of the framework in future research.