CAROLINE BRAYER EBBY

LEARNING TO TEACH MATHEMATICS DIFFERENTLY:

THE INTERACTION BETWEEN COURSEWORK AND
FIELDWORK FOR PRESERVICE TEACHERS ?

(Accepted October 4, 1999)

ABSTRACT. Understanding how preservice teachers integrate coursework and fieldwork

as they learn to teach is critical to understanding how to prepare teachers to implement the
kind of instruction envisioned by current reforms in mathematics education. This article
explores the connections that 3 preservice elementary teachers made between their exper-
iences as learners of mathematics in a masters-level university methods course and their
experiences as teachers of mathematics in the fieldwork classroom. Three case studies are
presented in order to illustrate different ways that the experience of engaging in mathemat-
ical inquiry influences the way in which elementary preservice teachers construct their
understanding of themselves as mathematics teachers. Taken together, the case studies
suggest that we need to expand our perspective as teacher educators to encompass learning
from the fieldwork experience as well as preservice teacher learning beyond the conclusion
of the semester. In particular, I conclude that the goals of a methods course should include
developing and nurturing particular habits of mind that help preservice teachers learn from
their own teaching.

The traditional school curriculum represents mathematics as a static

collection of facts, rules, and procedures to be passively learned by
students through drill and practice (Romberg, 1992). In contrast, the
current reform movement in mathematics education, as represented by
recent reform documents, builds on a conception of mathematics as a
dynamic, socially constructed, and inquiry-driven field (National Council
of Teachers of Mathematics, 1989). The image of teaching as a process
of inquiry that follows from these reform-oriented views stands in sharp
contrast to the linearity and predictability of traditional mathematics
instruction.
Given that prospective teachers are inclined to teach as they were taught
(Ball, 1990; Brown, Cooney & Jones, 1990), a critical issue for mathe-
matics teacher educators is how to help prospective teachers develop a
? This research was conducted as part of the authors Ph.D. dissertation completed at
the University of Pennsylvania under the direction of Betsy McNeal. An earlier version
of the report was presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research
Association in San Diego, 1998. The author thanks Janine Remillard and Betsy McNeal
for their helpful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts of this report.

Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education 3: 6997, 2000.

2000 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands.
70 CAROLINE BRAYER EBBY

vision of mathematics that departs from their past experiences as learners

of mathematics. Because most teachers have learned mathematics them-
selves in a traditional manner, they must reframe their conceptions of the
nature of mathematics and reject the teaching practices most familiar to
them (Ball, 1988). After 12 years as students in mathematics classrooms,
this apprenticeship of observation (Lortie, 1975, p. 61) can be a powerful
influence that is not easily overcome by coursework and directed field
experiences.
Many teacher educators have addressed this challenge by creating
university courses in which teachers can learn mathematics in ways
consistent with reform views (e.g., Ball, 1990; Simon, 1995; Wilcox,
Schram, Lappan & Lanier, 1991). Central to this approach is the assump-
tion that experiencing mathematics differently as learners will cause
teachers to reconstruct their beliefs, assumptions, and ultimately their
practice (Schifter & Fosnot, 1993; Simon, 1994). Indeed, several studies
illustrate that university courses can be successful in changing preservice
teachers beliefs about themselves as learners, about mathematics, and
about teaching and learning (Raymond & Santos, 1995; Wilcox, Schram,
Lappan & Lanier, 1991). Considerable evidence exists, however, to suggest
that preservice education is ultimately a weak intervention; preservice
teachers often retain their traditional notions about mathematics and fall
back on more familiar teaching practices in the classroom (Civil, 1993;
Simon & Mazza, 1993; Wilcox, Lanier, Schram & Lappan, 1992).
Some researchers have turned to the field experience to explain the fact
that university teacher education does not seem to have a lasting impact
on preservice teachers. At the turn of the century, Dewey (1904) criticized
what he called the apprenticeship model of field experience in which a
focus on teaching technique comes at the expense of subject matter knowl-
edge and educational theory. Indeed, several studies have shown that the
field experience can act as a conservative force that socializes student
teachers into existing school practices (Feiman-Nemser & Buchmann,
1985; Hoy & Rees, 1977). Furthermore, Britzman (1991) argued that the
assumption that theory is learned at the university and then implemented
in the schools prevents student teachers from theorizing about their own
practice.
Similarly, Feiman-Nemser and Buchmann (1985) illustrated that the
separation of thought and action can lead to what they call the two
worlds pitfall (p. 54). Rather than ignore this duality, they argued that
preservice teachers need help in making connections between the world
of the university and the world of the classroom. A growing number of
teacher education programs seek to break the cycle of socialization by