ABSTRACT
In recent years, a number of academic disciplines, not the least of which are mathematics and science, have undergone significant changes in the epistemology that underlies their pedagogical practice, moving increasingly toward constructivist approaches to epistemology and learning theory (see Cooper, 1993; Davis, Maher, & Noddings, 1990; Fensham, Gunstone, & White, 1994; Kamii, Manning, & Manning, 1991; Mintzes, Wandersee, & Novak, 1997; Nelson, 1996;
Spivey, 1997; Steffe, Cobb, & von Glasersfeld, 1988; Tobin, 1993; Wood, Cobb, & Yackel, 1995). This change in learning theory has, in essence, involved a change in the metaphors that we use to conceptualize knowledge, teaching, learning, and knowing (see Tarsitani, 1996).
