Excerpt: The first challenge we face in this endeavor is to define two philosophies which provide the basis for most teaching practices: positivism and || constructivism. Next, we intend to familiarize teachers with the influences these philosophies have had on teacher education programs and the classroom. Our final task is to help teachers identify these philosophies within their own practice so they may determine whether or not their teaching style actually reflects their personal beliefs.

This paper is a report of a study conducted with preservice elementary teachers at the University of Wyoming during the summer of 1993. The study had two purposes: (1) to observe the effectiveness of using a constructivist approach in teaching mathematics to preservice elementary teachers, and (2) to focus on teaching probability using a constructivist approach. The study was conducted by one instructor in one class, The Theory of Arithmetic II, a required mathematics class for preservice elementary teachers.

Key words: educational methods, teacher education, concept formation, constructivist teaching, preservice teacher education, problem solving, classroom techniques, mathematical concepts, teacher education programs

Excerpt: The main thesis of this chapter is that the culture of teacher education must share the core characteristics of the desired mathematics classroom culture. In particular, this relationship must hold if teacher education is to exercise a reforming influence on in-service teachers and create a break in the circle of reproduction by which the weaknesses of the existing school system are perpetuated. It follows that more attention should be devoted to the relation between alternative classroom experiences and theoretical instruction, to the fundamental role of everyday language for the understanding of mathematics, the balance of self-directed work and the negotiation of meanings in seminars and tutorials, and to the development of reflection and self-monitoring.

In the Developmental Teacher Education (DTE) program at the University of California at Berkeley, Piagetian developmental theory and research is used as core knowledge for preparing elementary school teachers. Developmental-constructivist principles of knowledge acquisition are particularly well-suited for this purpose because they have implications for what and how children are taught, how progress toward expertise in teaching is conceptualized, and how teachers are educated. The authors describe the 2-year, postgraduate program, whose features include small cohorts of students, course work organized to address key topics repeatedly and hierarchically, multiple student teaching placements in diverse settings, and a master’s project on a teaching-learning issue. They also comment on teaching practices of program graduates and the development of their understanding of children, learning, and teaching during and after graduation from the program.

The paper builds on the “Predict-Observe-Explain” (POE) assessment method reported by Gunstone and White almost 30 years ago. Arguments based on radical constructivism are used to extend POE into the form of a teaching strategy with four components: Predict-Explain-Observe-Reflect (PEOR). It is argued that there are many opportunities for the use of this strategy in science teaching. To illustrate, the use of PEOR in a teacher education programme is reported. A risk of adopting sequenced teaching strategies is that they can become “menu-driven,” detached from their conceptual origins. The paper demonstrates how a radical constructivist perspective can provide a coherent rationale for the PEOR teaching strategy.

The Cycle of Inquiry (COI) is a tool for emergent curriculum planning and for professional development of early childhood teachers and teacher education students. The COI guides teachers to document their observations of children’s learning, their interpretations of and questions about the developing knowledge they have observed, and their curricular designs for engaging children in the next steps in learning that are linked to the learning previously observed. Focusing curricular planning on observation and interpretation of children’s construction of knowledge allows teachers to plan for long-term learning experiences that are conceptually linked to children’s developing theories of the world. The documentation of teachers’ thinking in each phase of the COI process also supports teacher development by providing a format for teachers to reference their own thinking and construct new understanding about their teaching practice.

Excerpt: Constructivist theory as developed by Piaget (1936/1952) and applied to teaching young children by Kamii (1985, 1989, 1994) and DeVries and Zan (1994) is also being applied to teacher education (Fosnot, 1989). It is based on the view that knowledge is actively constructed by individuals in interaction with the environment and with others. DeVries and Zan (1994) have found that constructivist teaching engages the learner’s interest, inspires active experimentation, and fosters cooperation. Teacher education programs whose goal is to teach teachers to facilitate children’s knowledge construction attempt to involve students in their own construction of knowledge rather than explain constructivism through lecture. Duckworth (1987) describes how she engages teacher education students with phenomena such as real objects, encourages them to wonder and question about the object, and then to explain to others the sense they are making while she tries to understand their sense. In addition, Kamii (1994) and DeVries and Zan (1994) emphasize having prospective teachers attempt to understand children’s understanding by observing and questioning them as they are involved in learning. Teachers are more likely to facilitate children’s construction of knowledge if they have reflected on what it means to construct knowledge. Teacher education programs can promote this understanding through projects such as moon watching as described in this paper. Just as the moon goes through phases of waning and waxing, teacher education students go through phas-es in their construction of knowledge of the moon and of constructivist teaching.

The newest trend in the world of education leads to a shift from a paradigm centered on curricular content to a paradigm centered in the students’ learning processes. Teachers will now have to plan, implement, mediate and evaluate educational intervention practices with the purpose that each learner develops the ability to transfer knowledge(s) to a myriad of contexts. Now, in their role of companion-mediators, besides learning about theories and techniques, teachers will also need to try out new strategies and adopt other attitudes, on a trial and error basis, in order to succeed in deeply involving students in their formation process. As part of the activities of the Diploma Program “Transition towards the learning centered paradigm” carried out in the framework of the Permanent Program of Teacher Education at the Autonomous University “Benito Juárez” of Oaxaca (UABJO), three teachers-researchers observed and were observed in their teaching practices. As a result of both peer observation and peer accompaniment reflecting on the conditions of the “teaching-learning environments”(TLE) that encourage or limit the students’ involvement in class, the teachers manage to reflect on peer observations of their own teaching practices. Consequently, teachers changed aspects of their TLE and, once more in accompaniment, the teachers assess the effects of such changes on the students’ attitudes. The second-order observation is the methodological tool used to describe and analyze the classrooms’ reality.

Key words: long life training, accompaniment training environment, second order observation, undergraduate education, teaching learning environments.

While constructivist theory is widely promoted in pre-service music teacher education, there has been a lack of research conducted to reveal the ways in which the theory is individually personalized, then subsumed, translated and adopted into in-service classroom teaching practice. To address this shortfall, this article explores some of the ways that music teachers individually apply their understanding of the philosophically generated ideas and the cognitive concepts and principles that are broadly regarded as “constructivist.” In seeking to contribute to professional dialogue and debate surrounding this matter, this study seeks to illuminate how a small sample of music teachers engages both theoretically and practically with constructivist views of learning. Using a qualitative approach, the researchers incorporated staged, informal interviews with invited teacher participants. Preliminary analyses of interview data were returned to the participants for review and further commentary. This process was designed to contribute to both the trustworthiness of representation and to enhance the transactional process between participants and researchers. The commentaries are designed to problematize issues, raise points for discussion and the article concludes with implications for practice in schools and universities.

Key words: constructivism, music education, music pedagogy, pre-service music teaching.

Our initial documentation of the effects of the CAPITAL Program has implications for our own research agenda and for research on teacher education graduates in general. Interviews are a beneficial opportunity for teachers to identify and clarify their perceptions of successes, challenges, and needs in their practices. An hour of focused attention on their own performance facilitates teachers’ reflection and analysis. Thus our data collection will continue to include interviewing; however, we are aware of the need to collect additional types of data requiring different methods such as portfolio analysis, classroom observations, close reading of journals kept by students through- out the program, and interviews with mentor teachers and principals. We are currently exploring all of these and believe each additional data source will provide valuable insights useful for refining our program and supporting the continuing develop- ment of our graduates. Teacher preparation and professional development are never complete. University faculty and school colleagues must share responsibility for induction into and success in the profession. As these groups continue to collaborate, interact, and grow in unique understandings of what it means to develop as a teacher, a constructivist frame will be appropriate for all.