The Dilemmas of Preparing Teachers to Teach Mathematics within a

Constructivist Framework

Beatriz S. D'Ambrosio,
IUPUI - School of Education, USA

Teaching future elementary teachers to teach mathematics requires maJringchoices

and taking positions from among the multiple pressures placed upon mathematics
teacher educators. As part of a broader teacher education faculty, mathematics
teacher educators find themselves negotiating the positions of the mathematics
education community and the larger community of teacher educators. Furthermore,
pressures from liCensure agencies, accreditation institutions, and the positions of
practicing teachers-- collaborators in the teacher education process, add further
complexity to the frameworks within which teachers are prepared to teach
mathematics.

From the realm of the mathematics education community, reform in mathematics

teaching requires that teachers take a new stance on their role in the classroom.
Shifter (1996) suggests that classrooms that promote understanding of
mathematical ideas are those in which the teachers take on the role of monitor of
student learning, making sense of their students' sense-making. In these classrooms
teachers take a stance as researchers of student understanding. In these classrooms,
the pedagogy enacted by the teacher, the approach to knowledge as constructed by
the learner, and the culture of the classroom represent a setting never experienced
by most future teachers.

New practices in teacher education also aim to prepare teachers as agents of social
change. These practices are grounded in the belief that teachers should orchestrate
the classroom envi~onment in ways that promote equity and' social justice, and that
teachers should model democratic education.

The current climate of teacher education includes preparation of new teachers for
the "new social realities of teaching" (Lieberman & Miller, 2000). According to
Lieberman and Miller, these new sociall'ealities of teaching represent major shifts
in both dispositions and practice (p.51). Some of the new positions assumed in
teacher education programs include commitments to developing the following
dispositions and practices in future teachers: viewing learning as the construction of
knowledge, enacting teaching through inquiry, viewing inquiry as a major
component of the life of a teachel', valuing a strong content knowledge base,
understanding one's role as a collaborator within a community of practice, viewing
lIS
H. Fujita et al. (eds.), Proceedings of the Ninth International Congress on Mathematical Education
© Kluwer Academic Publishers 2004
reflection as the basis of Iife-Iong learning and continuous renewal.

Within this web of differing views and foci regarding teacher preparation how can
education programs define themselves in ways that prepare teachers to teach in the
21st century? In this talk I will describe the position assumed by a teacher
education program that has accepted the challenge of supporting future teachers to
embrace a constructivist perspective on teaching all subjects, including
mathematics. In the description ofthe program, and the process we have undergone
to implement the program I will analyze the difficulties we have encountered as we
move towards a program that is inquiry-based, student-centered, field-based, and
participatory.

I base my work with future teachers on the notion of constructivist teaching in

which a constructivist teacher is one who studies the knowledge constructions of
students and who interacts with students in a learning space whose design is based,
at least in part, on a working knowledge of students' understanding of concepts and
ideas (Steffe & D'Ambrosio, 1995). In this sense I enact constructivist teaching with
my university students and with children in the field. Together future teachers and
I explore the many facets of teaching that embrace a constructivist perspective. The
focus of our work together lies in the construction of models of children's
understanding of mathematical ideas. At the same time my personal inquiry lies in
my own construction of models of future teachers' understanding of mathematical
ideas.

I will describe the activities in which we involve our future teachers and analyze
their performance as to what strides they make towards understanding children's
knowledge of mathematics. Future teachers in our program are asked to respond to
performance assessment tasks. These responses are analyzed by the teacher
education faculty and inform the experiences designed throughout the program. As
a program we have narrowed the scope of experiences for future teachers to a focus
on learning to listen to children. The performance assessment tasks are designed to
assess the effectiveness of the program in shaping future teachers' skill in accessing
student knowledge and building a model of student understanding.

In this presentation I will draw on data from these performance assessment tasks
and analyze future teachers' performance raising questions about the experiences
that are needed in order to shape their growth in becoming effective mathematics
teachers. The analysis of the data is framed on Brent Davis's (1996) perspectives on
three types of classroom listening (evaluative listening, interpretive listening, and
hermeneutic listening). The data is also looked at through the lens of Belenky,
Clinchy, Goldberger, Tarule's (1986) conception of silent, received, connected,
separate, and constructed knowers.

116
The difficulties of embracing a constructivist perspective towards teaching
mathematics are evident when we analyze future teachers' difficulties in building
models of children's understanding. Our understanding of these difficulties can be
further shaped by considering characteristics of future teachers as to their own
approaches to learning mathematics and their perceptions of the nature of
mathematical knowledge and mathematical learning.

References
Belenky, Clinchy, Goldberger, Tarule (1986). Womens Ways ofKnowing: The
Development ofSelf, Voice, and Mind. Basic Books.
Davis, B. (1996). Teaching Mathematics: 'lbward a SoundAlternative. Garland.
Shifter, D. (1996). JiVhats Happening in Math Class? New York: Teachers' College
Press.
Steffe, L. & D'Atp.brosio, B. (1995). Toward a working model of constructivist
teaching: A reaction to Simon. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 26,
pp. 146-159.
Liebermann, A. & Miller, L. (2000). Teaching and Tacher Development: A New
Synthesis for a New Century. In R.S. Brandt, Education in a New Era, pp. 47-66.
ASCD Yearbook.

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