Abstract

As part of a larger study regarding an ideal curriculum in five subject matter domains for the elementary school, the views of seven experts in mathematics education were summarized and contrasted. Four experts were nationally and internationally known professors and researchers, and three were elementary school teachers selected by researchers familiar with their teaching and known for their ability to promote Lathematical understanding in children. These experts were asked to treat the topic of mathematics education comprehensively by addressing issues of curriculum (goals and objective, selection and organization of content), materials and instruCtion (presentation of input to students, teacher-student discourse, activities and assignments), evaluation of student learning (formal and informal assessment of student progress toward key goals before, during, and after instruction), and teacher education (subject matter knowledge, professional development). The views of the experts are summarized one at a time, under the