Psychological Theories in Mathematics Education Introduction to the Special Issue

Mathematics education is a scientific discipline that has close connections to other disciplines. Psychology is one of these related disciplines, but the specific nature of the relationship between psychology and mathematics education is a matter of debate. This special issue aims at contributing to this debate, by presenting studies that rely on theories and models from (cognitive) psychology to address research questions relevant to mathematics education. In this introduction to the special issue, we briefly review commonalities and differences between the research disciplines of mathematics education and psychology, and then introduce the articles included in this special issue. We conclude with remarks on how mathematics education may benefit from integrating psychological theories.