* Tel.: #1-302-831-1266; fax: #1-302-831-4445. E-mail address: ematusov@udel.edu (E. Matusov). Teaching and Teacher Education 17 (2001) 383}402 Intersubjectivity as a way of informing teaching design for a community of learners classroom Eugene Matusov* School of Education, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716, USA Received 9 August 1999; received in revised form 7 March 2000; accepted 18 May 2000 Abstract In this paper, I relate concepts from research (mainly psychological) on intersubjectivity to problems emerging in designing classroom learning environments by considering one of my undergraduate teacher education classrooms, which I designed to run according to an educational philosophy of `community of learnersa, and I consider the issues emerging from these e!orts. It seems that the notion of intersubjectivity is helpful both for understanding di$culties one can face with a teaching design for a `community of learnersa classroom and for improving such a design. I consider three aspects of intersubjectivity corresponding to the teaching design di$culties described here: (1) intersubjectivity as having something in common, (2) intersubjectivity as coordination of participants' contributions, and (3) intersubjectivity as human agency. The paper is limited to the issues of internal teaching design and does not address institutional constraints.  2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. Keywords: Teacher education; Intersubjectivity; Community of learners 1. Introduction According to the educational philosophy of com- munity of learners, which stems from a sociocul- tural approach to learning and development, the students and the teacher have collaboratively shared responsibility and ownership for guidance and learning where the students are responsible for learning how to manage their learning and the teacher has responsibility for guiding the students in this process (Brown & Campione, 1990, 1994; Cole, 1990; Dewey, 1966; Newman, Gri$n, & Cole, 1989; Rogo!, 1994; Rogo!, Matusov, & White, 1996; Silberman, 1971; Tharp & Gallimore, 1988; Wells, Chang, & Maher, 1990). Often this e!ort goes against educational backgrounds of both stu- dents and the instructor who were raised in tradi- tional schools based on an educational philosophy of transmission of knowledge. It is self-defeating to `cover curriculuma in a community of learners be- cause this way of teaching reproduces transmission of knowledge. Therefore, it seems impossible to teach preservice teachers about a community of learners without the instructor trying to practice this educational philosophy him/herself. Teaching how to teach puts special attention on how instruction is designed. Instructional design of a classroom involves both the teacher's organiza- tion of and orientation toward the activity. Teach- ing in a classroom is a goal-directed activity of 0742-051X/01/$ - see front matter  2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. PII:S0742-051X(01)00002-6