It was at the University of Michigan that Albert Bennett and L. Ted Nelson and their families first met. Bennett and Nelson had been invited to participate in a National Science Foundation sponsored program of graduate studies in mathematics. Ten years later while on sabbaticals at the University of Oregon they collaborated in writing lessons to actively involve prospective teachers in learning the mathematical concepts they would be teaching. These lessons eventually led to the publication of the first editions of Mathematics for Elementary Teachers: A Conceptual Approach and Mathematics for Elementary Teachers: An Activity Approach.

Ted Nelson is a professor of mathematics and education at Portland State University. He taught junior and senior high school mathematics after graduating from St. Cloud State University, and then continued mathematical studies at Bowdoin College and the University of Michigan, where he received his doctorate in 1968. After serving four years as the first mathematics department chair at Southwest Minnesota State University he moved to Oregon to follow his interest in teaching mathematics to teachers.

Currently, his main goal is to continue development of three lab-based courses for prospective elementary teachers and eight additional lab-based courses for middle school teachers. His teaching and curriculum efforts led to a faculty achievement award for outstanding university teaching in 1988. Over the past fifteen years he has written curriculum materials and given workshops designed to bring more concrete materials, visual models, and problem solving investigations into the elementary and middle school mathematics curriculums.