The Development of Teachers’ Professional Vision in Video Clubs

What is it that enables the archeologist to see a collection of stones as part of a larger structure that once existed? Why is it that a meteorologist can look at the sky and recognize patterns in the shape and coloring of clouds? Goodwin (1994) provides one answer by introducing the notion of professional vision. As Goodwin explains, professional vision involves “socially organized ways of seeing and understanding events that are answerable to the distinctive interests of a particular social group,” (p. 606). In other words, members of a professional group develop specific ways to interpret the phenomena that are the focus of their work.