May 1999, Vol. 30, Issue 3
Explicating the Teacher's Perspective From the Researchers' Perspectives: Generating Accounts of Mathematics Teachers' Practice
Martin A. Simon, Ron Tzur
In this article we articulate a methodology for studying mathematics teacher development in the context of reform. The generation of accounts of teachers' practice, an adaptation of the case study, provides an approach to understanding teachers' current practice and to viewing their current practice in the context of development toward envisioned reforms. The methodology is an alternative both to studies that focus on teachers' deficits and to teachers' own accounts of their practice. Conceptual frameworks developed within the mathematics education research community are applied to the task of investigating the nature of practice developed by teachers in transition. We characterize this methodology as explicating the teacher's perspective from the researchers' perspectives.
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