Learning to teach science as practice

In this article, we propose coteaching as a viable model for teacher prepar ation. Coteaching, working at the elbows of someone else, allows beginning teachers to experience appropriate action at the right time. Coteaching pro vides beginning teachers with shared experiences that become the topic of t heir professional conversations with other coteachers (including peers, coo perating teacher, and university supervisors). We articulate our model with in a phenomenological framework and exemplify each concept with vignettes f rom our ongoing research on coteaching. A teacher preparation program that is situated in two urban schools provides the context for our research. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.