The paper deals with some aspects of the history of the so called psychology of the mathematics education in Brazil. It is focused on subjects and theoretical approaches developed by the research group of psychology and mathematics education (PSIEM) FE/UNICAMP, whose activities began in the late seventies. According to the context where those studies were carried out, and in order to outline that history, the research methods, the chosen problems and the supporting theories will be emphasized, and also the difficulties faced with. First of all, the question of the mathematics teacher's education and those constructs of the educational psychology is discussed, which is relevant to the education of "good thinkers", as: development, learning, teaching, performance and assessment. Propositions about concept learning, problem solving, attitudes regarding mathematics and how these issues have been studied are underlined. Moreover, some elements which bring about some difficulties to the dissemination of those research results are presented.
psychology of mathematics education in Brazil; psychology and mathematics teaching and learning; scientific production of the PSIEM
