Tóm tắt

The guide is very much about theories of learning mathematics, as opposed to general theories of learning or generic advice on “good practice” in teaching. We believe that this is important because mathematical content is central to a lecturer’s work in constructing lectures, notes, problem sheets etc., and because understanding students’ likely interpretations of this content is therefore directly relevant to this day-to-day design work. We find the ideas described in the guide helpful in planning our own mathematics teaching and in responding to students’ individual questions, because they allow us to think systematically about underlying difficulties that manifest themselves in a variety of misunderstandings and errors. We do not, of course, suggest that there is a unique “best way to teach”, but many teaching strategies can be thought of in terms of how they address the issues raised, and throughout the three chapters we provide specific illustrations of things that we and others have tried in our lectures and seminar classes.