Instructional Explanations in the Disciplines
In today’s climate of accountability and standards, increasing attention is focused on teacher "quality," with less emphasis on what teachers actually do to interest and engage students in learning. This path-breaking volume addresses this research proble
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Instructional Explanations in the Disciplines
Instructional Explanations in the Disciplines
Mary Kay Stein · Linda Kucan Editors
Instructional Explanations in the Disciplines
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Editors Mary Kay Stein University of Pittsburgh 828 Learning Research and Development Center 3939 O’Hara Street Pittsburgh PA 15213 USA [email protected]
Linda Kucan University of Pittsburgh WWPH 5113 230 South Bouquet Street Pittsburgh, PA 15260 USA [email protected]
ISBN 978-1-4419-0593-2 e-ISBN 978-1-4419-0594-9 DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-0594-9 Springer New York Dordrecht Heidelberg London Library of Congress Control Number: 2009939066 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010 All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the written permission of the publisher (Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com)
This book is dedicated to Gaea Leinhardt whose research and scholarship related to teaching has inspired and will continue to inspire all those for whom education is a compelling enterprise.
Preface
With the implementation of recent testing and accountability schemes, the nation has become painfully aware of the wide variation that exists with respect to student achievement across schools and classrooms. As a result, policymakers have “discovered” the importance of teachers and teaching as the proximal cause of student learning. Unfortunately, their attention has focused on “teacher quality” – defined as the presence or absence of credentials. It can be argued that this unrelenting focus on teacher quality has redirected researchers’ attention away from what we know is the most important determiner of what students learn: the processes of teaching itself, that is, the tasks with which teachers and students engage and the classroom discussion surrounding those tasks. One of the most significant contributors to research on teaching has been Gaea Leinhardt. Across three decades, her work has focused attention on the heart of instruction – a place where subject matter meets the everyday acts of teaching. Cited by Lee Shulman in 1986 as one of two researchers in the country actively engaged in subject-matter-specific investigations of classroom teaching, Leinhardt was a pioneer in recognizing the importance of and developing methods for analyzing the subject matter content of instructional episodes. Through close examination of carefully chosen episod
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