Abstract
The major aim of this paper is to entice you to attend my presentation and participate in a selfassessment
of your beliefs about mathematics and its teaching. The self-assessment will help
you become familiar with educational research theories that are designed to describe
mathematical sophistication (Weinstein, 1998) and mathematics teaching philosophies (Ernest,
1991). As a mathematics teacher, your new knowledge and self-assessment skills will help you
become more effective. As a mathematics teacher educator, you can use these frameworks to
diagnose teachers’ beliefs and, when needed, to help them change their beliefs in ways that will
allow them to become more effective mathematics teachers.