Techreport,
The construction of new forms of teaching: Subject matter knowledge in inservice teacher education
(1990)
Abstract
Examine two inservice programs that aimed to effect radical changes in elementary school teachers' practices: SummerMath and Teachers College Writing Project. Analyze the role that the teacher educators accorded to subject matter knowledge in helping teachers to change their practice. Conclude that developing teachers' subject matter knowledge was not a top priority of either program; the programs emphasized students' construction of knowledge within the subject matter. Offer two reasons for the lack of focus of teachers' subject matter knowledge: (1) the programs' aimed primarily to change the teachers' view of teaching and learning and the role of students and teachers (2) the realization of staff members that the participants' subject matter background was weak led them to focus instead on other kinds of knowledge. Question the extent to which a teachers' capacity to teach from a constructivist or learner-based perspective is a function of the teachers' knowledge of the subject matter. Maintain, like Dewey, that choosing between knowledge about learning or knowledge about subject matter establishes a false dichotomy -- the logical and psychological are intertwined.
