ABSTRACT
Research into the conceptions and understandings that students hold following instruction (e.g., Gilbert, Osborne and Fensham, 1982; Osborne and Wittrock, 1985; White, 1988) has generated a demand for teaching that is informed by a constructivist perspective on learning. Many preservice teacher education programs have been described that include such a perspective (Wideen, MayerSmith and Moon, 1994). But, adopting such an approach involves considerable conceptual change for most preservice teachers, and achieving this is not necessarily easy (Kagan, 1992; Northfield, Gunstone and Erickson, 1996; Wubbels, Korthagen and Dolk, 1992). Research studies indicate mixed results in promoting changes in preservice teachers’ beliefs and practices. Hollingsworth (1989) found that preservice students enrolled in a constructivist teacher education program did undergo conceptual change and acquired new beliefs, but that entering beliefs were influential in mediating this process. She indicates that more significant change took place for those individuals who were involved in situations requiring them to confront their beliefs. FeimanNemser, et al. (1989) reported that an introductory teacher education course designed to assist preservice students in examining beliefs about teaching and learning, was successful in changing the students’ conceptions concerning the complexities of teaching, the nature of teacher knowledge, and the relationship between teaching and learning. Fosnot (1992) cites a success story of how an ‘immersion program’ in which beliefs are discussed and challenged in university and field experiences, promoted preservice teachers to change their practices from traditional to constructivist.
