Gunter Torner – författare

The twenty chapters in this book all focus on aspects of mathematical beliefs, from a variety of different perspectives. Current knowledge of the field is synthesized and existing boundaries are extended. The book is divided into three, partly overlapping, sections. The first concentrates on conceptualizations and measurement of beliefs, the second on research about teachers'' beliefs, and the third on facets of students'' beliefs about mathematics. A diversity of instruments is used for data collection, including surveys, interviews, observations, and essay writing, as well as more innovative approaches. The volume is intended for researchers in the fleld, as well as for mathematics educators teaching the next generation of students. The book is also useful for those working in other subject disciplines, since many of the themes explored have relevance well beyond mathematics education.

The book is made up of 21 chapters from 25 presentations at the 23rd MAVI conference in Essen, which featured Alan Schoenfeld as keynote speaker. Of major interest to MAVI participants is the relationship between teachers’ professed beliefs and classroom practice. The first section is dedicated to classroom practices and beliefs regarding those practices, taking a look at prospective or practicing teachers’ views of different practices such as decision-making, the roles of explanations, problem-solving, patterning, and the use of play. The focus of the second section in this book deals with teacher change, which is notoriously difficult, even when the teachers themselves are interested in changing their practice. The third section of this book centers on the undercurrents of teaching and learning mathematics, what rises in various situations, causing tensions and inconsistencies. The last section of this book takes a look at emerging themes in affect-related research. In this section,papers discuss attitudes towards assessment.