Abstracts - Earli

examine individual and contextual aspects of teacher learning as well as their interaction inmentoring and coaching by drawing upon cognitive and socio-cultural theories of learning. Two ofthe studies focus on subject matter specific coaching and the other three focus on more genericaspects of mentoring. The individual papers and the symposium encompass examples of howdifferent conceptions of learning provide different affordances and constraints in terms of how weunderstand and enhance mentoring and coaching. The studies furthermore contribute to ourresearch-based knowledge on the design and assistance of effective teacher learning.Stimulating teachers’ learning on the work place by peer coachingTheo C. M. Bergen, University of Nijmegen, NetherlandsPowerful learning and instructional arrangements are sought to stimulate teachers’ learning on thework-place. Methods of collegial coaching (e.g. peer- coaching) are seen as powerful interventionsas these can stimulate teachers to reflect what constitutes good teaching. Two intervention studieswere carried out with coaching as a central element. The results of the studies were ambiguous.We decided to take a closer look into the coaching dialogues. 45 peer coaching dialogues wereaudio taped and transcriptions were made. The transcriptions were analyzed from three differentperspectives: a procedural perspective related to the recommended phases during the coachingconference, a coaching specific perspective related to the five specific functions of successfulcoaching and an instructional content perspective related to teaching for active learning, which isdiscussed or proposed by the coach or teacher. Between the coaching dialogues are remarkablequantitative and qualitative differences in respect to the three perspectives we used in our analyses.In conclusion peer coaches could create potentially a powerful learning environment for theircolleagues, but the powerfulness depends of the quality of the coaching dialogue.Transforming mentor teachers’ beliefs on teaching mathematics while learning to coachFritz C. Staub, University of Fribourg, SwitzerlandAnnelies Kreis, University of Teacher Education Thurgau, SwitzerlandThe nature of pedagogical content beliefs matters for what teachers do in their classrooms as wellas for student achievement gains. In elementary mathematics a cognitive constructivist orientationis associated with larger achievement gains in mathematical word problems than an associationistview of learning and teaching (Staub & Stern, 2002). Teachers’ beliefs, however, are resistant tochange. For teacher education it is thus a pivotal issue, how mentor teachers’ beliefs can bedeveloped. In a quasi-experimental study in Switzerland an intervention group (NIG=15) ofmentor teachers (grade 1-6), who regularly cooperate with a university of teacher education,learned to assist student teachers on the basis of Content-Focused Coaching (West & Staub, 2003).Integrated into learning to do content-focused coaching mentors discussed and refined theirpedagogical content knowledge in mathematics. The intervention included 50 hours of courseattendance plus 70 hours of individual study and cooperation with peers over the duration of 15months. Mentor teachers in the control group (NKG=10) participated in the regular professionaldevelopment only. All mentor teachers answered a questionnaire before and after the intervention.The questionnaire included belief scales on teaching mathematics. For two of these scales,"Selecting Cognitively Activating Tasks," and "Active Social Construction of Understanding," thestatistical interactions between time of measurement (before and after intervention) and group(intervention vs. control group) reached statistical significance (p < .05). The study demonstratesthat mentor teachers’ pedagogical content beliefs can be changed towards a more cognitiveconstructivist view through their participation in a course on learning how to coach studentteachers with a focus on pedagogical content knowledge.– 522 –