EXPERTISE IN TEACHING FROM A DEVELOPMENTAL PERSPECTIVE - THE DEVELOPMENTAL TEACHER-EDUCATION PROGRAM AT BERKELEY

Expertise in teaching is considered from a constructivist developmenta l perspective that has been applied both to the teaching of elementary school children and to the preparation of teachers in a two-year grad uate program at the University of California at Berkeley. The program' s goals and practices are discussed with reference to developmental pr inciples which hold that understandings are constructed gradually, thr ough the learner's own activity, within different knowledge domains. E vidence of the program's effectiveness in promoting expertise among st udent teachers and graduates is summarized in terms of a developmental sequence that teachers appear to go through in attaining constructivi st understandings in the domain of pedagogy.