ABSTRACT
Constructivist teaching and teacher education has clearly arrived. Discussions of these topics dominate scholarly and practitioner journals in most subject matter areas (for example, Educational Researcher, 23, 4; and Journal of Teacher Education, 43, 5). Further, constructivist approaches are reflected in national and state level policy documents designed to influence the curriculum and pedagogy of American classrooms (for example, the National Council on Teachers of Mathematics Standards), and in state and local policies. The Tucson, Arizona Unified School District, for example, is contemplating asking early elementary school teachers to throw away their mathematics textbooks and teach mathematics primarily through a constructivist approach using manipulatives.
