Mathematics teachers’ beliefs

on their way into building thinking classrooms

Abstrakti

This study investigates lower secondary mathematics teachers’ beliefs about mathematics, learning, teaching, and knowledge essential for teaching, prior to their participation in a professional development program that focuses on implementing Peter Liljedahl’s “Building Thinking Classrooms” (BTC) approach. We found that teachers a priori beliefs about mathematics, the teaching of mathematics, the learning of mathematics, and mathematical knowledge for teaching served, in some cases, as barrier to the adoption of the ideas and practices of BTC and, in other cases, served as a benefit.