This book is grounded in the author's experiences of teaching
mathematics for prospective elementary school teachers and conducting
research on their understanding of mathematical concepts. It is a
reflection on practice and an attempt to cope with a double challenge:
that of a teacher, in helping prospective teachers make sense of
mathematics, and that of a researcher, in an attempt to understand and
describe the challenges faced by students. This work fits within the
current community interest on teacher education and provides a novel
focus, with both theoretical and practical considerations. The central
claim in this book is that encounters with mathematical content by
prospective elementary school teachers constitute relearning, rather
than learning, of mathematics. The specific focus is on topics related
to elementary number theory (e.g. divisibility, prime factorization),
which is referred to as a "forgotten queen" (following Gauss' reference
to number theory as a queen of mathematics). This is the content area
that has not received significant attention in mathematics education
research. The book can be summarized as an attempt to address the
following questions: What is relearning of mathematical content and how
is it similar to or different from learning? What are the examples of
specific mathematical topics or concepts that require relearning? What
pedagogical approaches can support relearning? The detailed analysis of
research data and pedagogical approaches presented in the book are
intertwined with stories of personal experiences of the author, which
makes the reading not only intellectually stimulating but also
enjoyable.
