This 202-page book describes the experiences of several teachers who participated in an in-service workshop designed to help them initiate a constructivist approach in elementary-school mathematics. Information gleaned from interviews, teachers' journals and on-site visits tells the story of their progress as they applied the new methods in their classrooms. An appendix provides a chronology of the workshop.

The implied purpose of this volume is to support those who are attempting to change the way mathematics is taught and learned in school. The authors state that the book "provides a valuable resource for anyone concerned with reforming mathematics education" (p. xi). The program discussed in the material is designed specifically for teachers of elementary school, although the proposed changes in pedagogy are suitable for all grade levels.

The authors stress the need to increase elementary-school teachers' knowledge of mathematics and to do so by using the same constructivism in workshops that is proposed for their classrooms. They argue that teachers tend to teach as they were taught, and that their experience constructing their own mathematics will help them incorporate those techniques into lessons they offer to others. The authors also emphasize the importance of mentoring for teachers in their attempts to change, and the necessity for support from administrators and parents.

The details of the teachers' stories give the reader good insight into the growth and the difficulties teachers experience as they work on changing their practice, and also relate some of the failures met when teachers were left unchanged by the program's influence. The book is very readable while maintaining quality in the reporting of the technical aspects of the research. The material does not hide problems, and mentions some of the failures met when teachers were left unchanged by the program's influence.

One of the stories describes how a teacher started a mathematics club for girls as one way of encouraging females to take a more active role in mathematics classes. Other episodes show how, by listening more closely to the students, teachers were able to help all students learn. The data portrays how the combined influence of workshop and classroom experiences persuaded some teachers to challenge the administration into revamping their school's organization from a tracking mode to mixed-ability grouping.

Professional developers could use the nine major cases in this book as a starting point for discussions with teachers, drawing from the accounts of successes, doubts, questions and challenges encountered by the teachers whose stories are included. They could also use the material as a source to show teachers what reform efforts look like in practice. In-service providers can duplicate those aspects of the workshop that worked, such as offering instruction over a period of several days, using a constructivist approach in helping teachers increase their knowledge of mathematics and providing follow-up support after participants returned to their classrooms.

One reviewer commented that this work should not be used as a textbook, but as a source of ideas for helping professional developers get teachers started on doing and discussing mathematics themselves.

Although all the teachers whose experiences were selected for inclusion in this volume were women, the authors point out that this is primarily due to the fact that only eight percent of elementary teachers are male and that males were indeed enrolled in the program.