Prospective Teachers’ Beliefs About Mathematics: A Review of the Literature

The Mathematics Enthusiast Special Issue (2014) presented an extensive review of the literature around the content knowledge of prospective elementary teachers (PTs). The issue excluded articles around PTs’ beliefs. Understanding research around PTs’ beliefs is important to understanding how to design and support their teaching preparation. Attending to PTs’ beliefs helps to ensure their content knowledge and instructional methods are aligned with reform-based mathematics. This article highlights a literature review that addressed the omission of beliefs and explored how teacher preparation might address PTs’ held beliefs.