This book is aimed at presenting to a wider readership the major findings of research related to mathematics education carried out over the last 10 years by the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME). This group was organized in 1976 at the Third International Congress on Mathematical Education in Karlsruhe, West Germany, but as Efraim Fischbein, the organizer, notes in the introduction, its roots go back to the First ICME in Lyons, France, in 1969. PME is affiliated with the International Commission for Mathematics Instruction (ICMI) and has about 500 members from 39 countries.

The purpose of the book is to present major findings of research in mathematics education that relate to the cognitive aspects of teaching and learning. The audience consists of teachers, whether in service or preparing to teach; teacher educators; educational researchers; cognitive psychologists; and the general reader who is interested in mathematics education from a psychological point of view. Each chapter reviews recent research related to a single theme. Most of the research cited has been reported in sessions at the annual meetings of PME or its North American branch, but studies from other sources are included to round out the reviews.

It should be emphasized that, as befits a field of inquiry that is still being formed, this book is truly a collaboration. Although one or two people took the principal responsibility for writing the final draft of the chapter, each chapter was originally constructed by a group of PME members active in research related to the theme.