Handbook of Research on Mathematics Teaching and Learning: A Project of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

The Handbook was designed to be comprehensive in its
coverage of research and research issues within mathematics
education. Although the scope of the book is broad, some areas
could undoubtedly have received more attention. Such areas
will become increasingly obvious as research in mathematics
education evolves. There is some overlap in coverage across
chapters; this overlap helps to focus attention on the ideas and
issues in the forefront of current research, provides a variety
of perspectives on a particular issue as addressed by multiple
authors, and demonstrates the interrelatedness of research in
the field. Some chapters in the Handbook emphasize issues
of learning mathematiCS, whereas others focus on teaching.
Yet, interestingly, most of the authors explicitly address both
of these perspectives to some degree. (In most cases this was
done without much cajoling from the editor.) In the past these
two dimensions have often defined two separate disciplines of
scientific inquiry (Romberg & Carpenter, 1986). The attention
here to both functions is Significant because of the important
relationship between teaching and learning.