Research shows that effective mathematics teaching in K-12 classrooms requires a deep understanding of what is sometimes called “mathematics knowledge for teaching,” or MKT. At the heart of MKT is the fact that teachers need to understand mathematics in ways that are very different from how physicists, chemists, engineers or mathematicians engage with mathematics.

Teachers need to understand mathematics concepts such as fractions, proportional reasoning, spatial sense and algebra in ways that will enable them to support all children to learn these concepts. Unlike engineers and physicists, mathematics teachers need to be familiar with a number of ways of explaining and representing these mathematics concepts and of engaging in mathematical thinking.

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