The need to improve the mathematical proficiency of elementary teachers is well recognized, and it has long been of interest to educators and researchers in the U.S. and many other countries. But the specific proficiencies that elementary teachers need and the process of developing and improving them remain only partially conceptualized and not well validated empirically. To improve this situation, national workshops were organized at Texas A&M University to generate focused discussions about this important topic, with participation of mathematicians, mathematics educators and teachers. Developing Mathematical Proficiency for Elementary Instruction is a collection of articles that grew out of those exciting cross-disciplinary exchanges. Developing Mathematical Proficiency for Elementary Instruction is organized to probe the specifics of mathematical proficiency that are important to elementary teachers during two separate but inter-connected professional stages: as pre-service teachers in a preparation program, and as in-service teachers teaching mathematics in elementary classrooms. From this rich and inspiring collection, readers may better understand, and possibly rethink, their own practices and research in empowering elementary teachers mathematically and pedagogically, as educators or researchers.

The need to improve the mathematical proficiency of elementary teachers is well recognized, and it has long been of interest to educators and researchers in the U.S. and many other countries. But the specific proficiencies that elementary teachers need and the process of developing and improving them remain only partially conceptualized and not well validated empirically. To improve this situation, national workshops were organized at Texas A&M University to generate focused discussions about this important topic, with participation of mathematicians, mathematics educators and teachers. Developing Mathematical Proficiency for Elementary Instruction is a collection of articles that grew out of those exciting cross-disciplinary exchanges. Developing Mathematical Proficiency for Elementary Instruction is organized to probe the specifics of mathematical proficiency that are important to elementary teachers during two separate but inter-connected professional stages: as pre-service teachers in a preparation program, and as in-service teachers teaching mathematics in elementary classrooms. From this rich and inspiring collection, readers may better understand, and possibly rethink, their own practices and research in empowering elementary teachers mathematically and pedagogically, as educators or researchers.

This book mainly discusses the representation theory of the special linear group 8L(2, 1R), and some applications of this theory. In fact the emphasis is on the applications; the working title of the book while it was being writ ten was "Some Things You Can Do with 8L(2). " Some of the applications are outside representation theory, and some are to representation theory it self. The topics outside representation theory are mostly ones of substantial classical importance (Fourier analysis, Laplace equation, Huyghens' prin ciple, Ergodic theory), while the ones inside representation theory mostly concern themes that have been central to Harish-Chandra's development of harmonic analysis on semisimple groups (his restriction theorem, regularity theorem, character formulas, and asymptotic decay of matrix coefficients and temperedness). We hope this mix of topics appeals to nonspecialists in representation theory by illustrating (without an interminable prolegom ena) how representation theory can offer new perspectives on familiar topics and by offering some insight into some important themes in representation theory itself. Especially, we hope this book popularizes Harish-Chandra's restriction formula, which, besides being basic to his work, is simply a beautiful example of Fourier analysis on Euclidean space. We also hope representation theorists will enjoy seeing examples of how their subject can be used and will be stimulated by some of the viewpoints offered on representation-theoretic issues."

Two basic problems of representation theory are to classify irreducible representations and decompose representations occuring naturally in some other context. Algebras of Iwahori-Hecke type are one of the tools and were, probably, first considered in the context of representation theory of finite groups of  Lie type. This volume consists of notes of the courses on Iwahori-Hecke algebras and their representation theory, given during the CIME summer school which took place in 1999 in Martina Franca, Italy.