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In the past two decades, there has been a trend in materials for mathematics courses for prospective secondary teachers: more opportunities for teachers to “apply mathematics to teaching”. That is, materials increasingly highlight how mathematical knowledge learned in the course can be useful in secondary teaching, and provide opportunities for teachers to harness this knowledge in simulations of teaching. There is little known about the effects of this curricular reform on teachers’ competence. In this report, we use data from the Mathematics of Doing, Understanding, Learning, and Educating for Secondary Schools MODULE(S2) project to examine the potential impact of using such curricular materials. The data include over 300 prospective secondary teachers’ responses to 3 sets of Likert pre-/post-term surveys addressing: mathematical knowledge for teaching; expectancy for enacting selected core teaching practices; and valuing of enacting these practices. We found mean increases across the survey results. We conclude with directions for future research on the impact of this curricular reform. 

To examine differences in dimensions of :MKT observable in different creation mediums for teacher-created representations of practice, we analyzed 54 representations of practice (pairs of 27 video and 27 written) created by 27 PSMTs. We found 7 pairs where we observed higher MKT in the video than in the written representation of practice created by the same PSMT. We found 0 cases where we obse1ved higher MKT in the written as compared to the video representation of practice. We examined these 7 pairs for qualities characterizing the pairs as a set. We use findings to problematize issues central to mathematics teacher education: how mathematics is conceptualized, and how representations of practice are used as assessment of dimensions of teachers' MKT. 

To examine differences in dimensions of MKT observable in different creation mediums for teacher-created representations of practice, we analyzed 54 representations of practice (pairs of 27 video and 27 written) created by 27 PSMTs. We found 7 pairs where we observed higher MKT in the video than in the written representation of practice created by the same PSMT. We found 0 cases where we observed higher MKT in the written as compared to the video representation of practice. We examined these 7 pairs for qualities characterizing the pairs as a set. We use findings to problematize issues central to mathematics teacher education: how mathematics is conceptualized, and how representations of practice are used as assessment of dimensions of teachers’ MKT. 

To improve teaching and learning in content courses for secondary mathematics teachers, we take the approach of supporting faculty who teach these courses – often mathematics faculty – in developing their own mathematical knowledge for teaching (MKT) at the secondary level. We describe a framework that has informed the design of educative curricula for a set of these courses. This framework integrates theory for knowledge development, empirical work on dimensions of knowledge used in teaching, and findings on observable behaviors in teaching that reveal prospective secondary teachers’ knowledge development.