What mathematics do teachers with contrasting teaching approaches address in probability lessons? Ruhama Even & Tova Kvatinsky Published online: 24 March 2010 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 Abstract This paper (1) presents a conceptual framework for analyzing the mathematics addressed in probability lessons and (2) uses the framework to compare the mathematics that two teachers with contrasting teaching approaches addressed in class when teaching the topic of probability. One teaching approach aimed to develop understanding; the other emphasized mechanistic answer finding. Class work on 193 problems was analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively, showing some similarities and some differences in the mathematics that the two teachers offered to students. The differences found seemed to be linked to the teachers’ teaching approaches. The findings suggest that teachers who adopt different teaching approaches, to some extent, make available to learn different mathematics even when they use the same textbooks. Keywords Teaching probability . Offering probability to learners . Probability lessons . Conceptual framework . Mathematics made available to learn . Mathematics addressed in class . Teaching approaches . Developing understanding . Mechanistic answer finding Obviously, teachers with different teaching approaches address didactic and pedagogical issues of teaching mathematics differently. For example, when introducing new content, teachers who adopt a direct instruction approach tend to start by clearly presenting the new materials, whereas teachers who adopt a problem-solving approach tend to start by having their students work on solving a problem that is related to the new materials. However, little is known about possible links between teaching approaches (how mathematics is taught) and the mathematics addressed in class (what mathematics is taught). This study centers on this issue. The overarching questions guiding this study are: What mathematics do teachers with different teaching approaches address in mathematics lessons? Are there differences? Are there links between the mathematics that teachers address in mathematics lessons and Educ Stud Math (2010) 74:207–222 DOI 10.1007/s10649-010-9234-9 R. Even (*) Department of Science Teaching, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, Israel e-mail: Ruhama.even@weizmann.ac.il T. Kvatinsky Talpiot College of Education, Tel Aviv, Israel