Springer International Handbooks of Educ International Handbook of Mathematics Education Book 4 (Paperback)

ALAN J. BISHOP Monash University Clayton Victoria Australia RATIONALE Mathematics Education is becoming a well-documented field with many books journals and international conferences focusing on a variety of aspects relating to theory research and practice. That documentation also reflects the fact that the field has expanded enormously in the last twenty years. At the 8th International Congress on Mathematics Education (ICME) in Seville Spain for example there were 26 specialist Working Groups and 26 special- ist Topic Groups as well as a host of other group activities. In 1950 the Commission Internationale pour I Etude et l Amelioration de l Enseignement des Mathematiques (CIEAEM) was formed and twenty years ago another active group the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) began at the third ICME at Karlsruhe in 1976. Since then several other specialist groups have been formed and are also active through regular conferences and publications as documented in Edward Jacobsen s Chapter 34 in this volume.