Narratives in teacher education

Abstract

In primary teacher education, using a multimedia learning environment, we challenge student teachers to develop narratives of paradigmatic classroom situations. In this digital environment they observe footage of classroom practice (mathematics lessons) and discuss, analyse, and interpret these episodes. The environment will stimulate student teachers to develop narratives (about these events) as a tool to construct meaning about mathematics education and to bridge the divide between theory and practice. Through this construction process they can exceed their practical experience and discuss important issues in teaching and learning. In this article we describe a six step curriculum design framework aimed at the construction of educational meaning through narratives and will touch on some arguments in favour of a narrative approach.

Keywords:

• observation
• meaning
• evaluation
• reflection
• narrative knowledge
• design research

Notes

1.As an aside we may note that to some degree developmental or design research, action research, and didactical engineering are comparable. By choosing the framework and terminology of developmental research we follow a long Dutch tradition in research in mathematics education.

2.Compare Simon's (1995) notions of “mathematical teaching cycle” and “hypothetical learning trajectory.”