A sociocultural perspective of teacher knowledge construction while researching concerns of practice during the professional learning program of teaching as intentional learning: A grounded theory study

This study involved an investigation of the nature of teacher knowledge construction of three practicing teachers enrolled in a course, which took place in an on-line learning environment. In addition, the research examines the factors that enhanced or constrained the constructive process during the professional learning activities. Qualitative analysis informed the question of teacher knowledge from the sociocultural perspective of knowledge being created and recreated between people, as they bring their personal experience and information derived from other sources to bear on solving a concern with their practice. The use of the on-line learning environment of Teaching as Intentional Learning (TIL) (Moss, 1998) permitted the researcher to examine the occurrence of events within the context of the teacher discourse as they addressed concerns of their practice. TIL is a dynamic learning environment in which the three teachers continuously adjusted their practice in light of their interactions with colleagues within the TIL on-line learning environment and from the scaffolding of their instructor. A qualitative methodology allowed the meanings attached to these events to be explored from the perspective of the participants. This methodology allowed for the combination of a number of data gathering techniques, which in turn allowed a form of analysis grounded in the recorded data. The data were electronically collected for each participant, and included, discourse from individual bulletin board posts, self-submitted weekly reports, and a final report. The discourse revealed not only the teacher knowledge, but also the factors which influenced teacher learning.