The Jamaican education system has failed to qualify many of the nation's youths for higher educational pursuits or the labour market upon their exit from high school. Many in the system have speculated that this failure is due to the predominantly direct teaching methodology practised by the nation's teachers. The low mathematics achievement at the high school level-a pass rate averaging about 25 per cent each year (CXC 1994; 1996; 1997, 1998; 1999; Education Statistics, 1995)-led me to search for an approach for professional development of secondary teachers of mathematics that would move them away from the traditional mode of instruction (direct teaching) and cultivation of judgements, and toward developing alternative approaches that would foster collaborative learning