Alternative constructions of the reasonable: Principles and situations in learning about science teaching

Conclusion

Marcy’s explanations for why she taught as she did underlie the importance of probing the thinking of student teachers, of the importance of giving high status to their accounts of why they do what they do. Stodolsky (1984) aptly refers to the focus only on overt behavior of both experienced and student teachers as “the limits of looking.” Looking only at Marcy’s overt behaviors would have merely provided the information that certain principles from her science methods course did not appear to have influenced her teaching. Listening to the articulation of her thinking, however, uncovered the underlying reasons for why she felt the principles of the course had to be set aside. Looking at Marcy’s science teaching without listening to her explanations would have likely limited the supervising methods instructor to conclude that Marcy had not learned or had rejected what she had been exposed to in the methods course. In contrast, listening to Marcy’s explanations for what she did suggests that the discrepancy between what students learn in methods courses and what they do when student teaching in classrooms may mainly be a result of their perception of their immediate classroom situation rather than of their deliberate setting aside of methods coursework. It is not so much that student teachers don’t want to try activity-oriented science, for example, but that, within the context of their student teaching, they feel that trying it is too difficult or too time-consuming or too risky. Like experienced teachers, student teachers conceive of what is reasonable to do under the circumstances, then act accordingly.