REFERENTS FOR MAKING SENSE OF SCIENCE TEACHING

The paper reports an interpretive investigation of teacher learning an d change within the context of the science curriculum. Marsha, a begin ning science teacher, was experiencing considerable difficulties in ma naging her class. Through her involvement in this study, Marsha learne d about constructivism and began to use it, initially to analyse the l anguage she used to describe knowledge and learning, and eventually to analyse what happened in her classroom and construct a vision of what her science classroom might be like. However, change was difficult. T he metaphors Marsha used to make sense of her three salient teaching r oles were inconsistent with constructivism and the associated vision f or the curriculum. Accordingly, Marsha constructed new metaphors to ma ke sense of her teaching roles such that the associated actions of the teacher and students were acceptable from a constructivist point of v iew. The use of constructivism and newly formulated metaphors to plan and implement the science curriculum led to a markedly improved enviro nment in Marsha's classes. Initially, Marsha's attempts at change were resisted by her colleagues, who made sense of science teaching and le arning in terms of objectivism. However, over a period of three years the school culture evolved to one that was characterized by teacher an d student actions that were more consistent with constructivism than o bjectivism.