What an Innovative Curriculum for Teachers Reveals about

This paper presents a comparative analysis of three teacher educators using a curriculum--Developing Mathematical Ideas--designed to serve elementary school teachers in an inquiry group setting. The aim of the study was to examine the processes and demands of supporting teachers' learning and their efforts to reform their practices. Data collection involved observations of the 3-hour sessions, follow-up interviews with facilitators, and field notes. Analyses revealed that the central demand of supporting teachers ' learning through inquiry involved navigating through what was called openings in the curriculum. These openings took the form of unanticipated questions, challenges, observations, or actions by participating teachers and required facilitators to make on-the-spot judgements about how to guide the discourse. Examination of the teacher educators ' processes for navigating these openings revealed that they used a set of three activities in determining how to respond. Analysis of facilitators ' activities further illuminates the work involved in supportin