A Hierarchy of South Korean Elementary Teachers Knowledge for Teaching Mathematics

The purpose of this study is to develop a framework for understanding teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics (MKT) by examining a hierarchy of 317 South Korean elementary teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics. Through a web-based survey, the teachers were asked to rank order their beliefs about and use of knowledge subdomains for teaching mathematics. Findings show that teachers’ beliefs about knowledge for teaching mathematics are divergent from current research trends. Also, their beliefs about the subdomains of knowledge for teaching mathematics were ranked differently in comparison to their actual use of the subdomains. Their hierarchy for MKT presents suggestions for the type of curriculum that might be offered to teachers to develop their knowledge at the pre-and in-service level.