the history of research in mathematics education is part of the history of field mathematics education that has developed over that last two centuries as mathematicians and educators have turned their attention to how and what mathematics is, or might be, taught and learned in school. From the outset, research in mathematics education has also been shaped by forces within the larger arena of educational research, which roughly a century ago abandoned philosophical speculation in favor of a more scientific approach. But like mathematics education itself, research in mathematics education has struggled to achieve its own identity. It has tried to formulate its own issues and its own ways of addressing them. It has tried to define itself and to develop a cadre of people who identify themselves as researchers in mathematics education.