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In-service program documentation
Analyzing classroom vignettes from an inquiry perspective (D5.2)
Newsprint recording the participants' discussion of a common vignette
Vignette examined: narrative of one class from Judi Fonzi's high
school math course on geometry, where the students were challenged to create
on their own the construction of a triangle given two angles and a side
adjacent only to one of these angles -- the text distributed to the participants
was a slightly edited version of the narrative of this instructional episode
as reported in Borasi, R. (1996). Reconceiving Mathematics Instruction:
A Focus on Errors. NY: Ablex.
TEXT OF NEWSPRINT (recording characteristics of "inquiry
teaching" illustrated by this episode, as identified by individual
participants and accepted by the whole group)
- teacher as facilitator:
- not giving answers
- pulling kids in
- orchestrates the on-going process:
- turned a problem (no homework) into a good experience
- repeats/uses (makes public) students' comments
- fostered use of precise language
- teacher subtly has individual issues made public
- students take lead/direct experience/learning
- students actively engaged
- teacher as learner
- students saw need for use of previous knowledge
- class builds on each others information
- there is a climate of spontaneity
- use of "mistakes" to make sense
- (students) capitalized on errors to make sense
- using "open-ended" situations
- problem took time
- made/validated multiple approaches
- student-centered
- raising questions, and making OWN discoveries
- lesson is bigger than solving the task
- allowed one to continuously pose questions
- learning to prove, justify
- experiences might first "murky the waters" before making
it clear
- teacher moves (needs to move) the learning into the necessary (e.g.
curriculum) places
- a single day is NOT a self-contained lesson -- it takes several days
to evolve
- environment where students are free to do/use materials they need in
order to make sense of the situation
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