I would like to thank the members of my Thesis Committee: Dr. Gila Hanna and Dr. Brent Kilbourn of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education and Dr. Edward Barbeau, Department of Mathematics, University of Toronto. My Co-Supervisors, Gila and Brent, provided much needed guidance and support as I struggled to complete this project, and their help is greatly appreciated. Ed Barbeau's kind words of advice and encouragement helped keep me going.
My colleagues at the Faculty of Education, Queen's University, provided many words of encouragement. In particular, I wish to thank Hugh Allen, Bill Higginson, Joan McDuff, John Olson and Andrew Wilson for their support and the opportunities to talk this research through. Bill carefully read multiple drafts of this work and provided much valuable feedback.
This study could not have been conducted without the cooperation of four great teachers who took the risk of opening up their classrooms to me. They contributed many hours of their own time to this research as we together explored their conceptions of mathematics. These four truly merit the title "exemplary". Thank you all very much for your commitment to this project.
Lastly I would like to thank and dedicate this work to my partner, Jean, who supported me through the ups and downs of the research process. To her and the rest of my pack: Katie, Willie and Rags a big thank you.