Walking the talk: Translation of mathematical content knowledge to practice

Recent debates on students’ learning outcomes in mathematics have shifted the focus to better understanding the types of knowledge that teachers need in order to support children. In the present study, we examined the quality of knowledge of a cohort of prospective teachers along the dimensions developed by Ball et al. (2008). We found support for the contention that beginning teachers tend to have built a body of content knowledge. However, that knowledge remains less germane to teaching children. Implications for translation of this knowledge for teaching are presented.