Elvira L. Arellano
SEAMEO Regional Centre for Education in Science and Mathematics
Penang
Malaysia

Date: 25 October 2001
Time: 4.00-4.30

The narrative inquiry approach (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990, 2000) to research was at the heart of this study. This study features use of narrative inquiry to explore the learning experiences of sixteen prospective secondary school science and mathematics teachers as they were involved in the brainstorming, writing, sharing and discussion of cases –cases that express dilemmas and reflect the inherent uncertainty and complexity of the world of teaching and learning. Narrative inquiry, as a way of understanding learning experiences, enabled the researcher and the participants to live, tell, re-examine, reflect on, and retell stories- stories which made the researcher and the participants understand their teaching practices. Narrative also provided the context for the researcher and the participants in this study to pursue alternate ways of thinking using multiple data sources. Various forms of narrative inquiry including cases written by prospective teachers, solutions they provided to open cases, their written reactions to closed cases, and transcripts of case discussions and participant’s reflections have been used to transform discourse among all participants in this study. This praxis has come to be referred to as “case experience” (Arellano, et al., 2000). This paper concludes with the discussion of the potential and relevance of case experience, in a narrative inquiry, as a vehicle to inform science and mathematics teacher education reform and research in the future.