We would like to offer these six features, the first three of which are given by Alan Schoenfeld in “Toward a theory of teaching-in-context,” issues in Education, both as ways in which a theory can contribute to research and as criteria for evaluating a theory.
In this paper, we describe one such perspective, APOS Theory, in the context of undergraduate mathematics education. We explain the extent to which it has the above characteristics, discuss the role that this theory plays in a research and curriculum development program and how such a program can contribute to the development of the theory, describe briefly how working with this particular theory has provided a vehicle for building a community of researchers in undergraduate mathematics education, and indicate the use of APOS Theory in specific research studies, both by researchers who are developing it as well as others not connected with its development. We provide, in connection with this paper, an annotated bibliography of research reports which involve this theory.