The structures of meaning preservice teachers perceived and interpreted as a result of field placements in a methods course and through the use of ethnographic tools were studied in an ethnographic design. The study involved 11 preservice teachers. It described how they shaped each other's thinking about teaching and it examined how ethnographic tools enabled these students to rethink the act of teaching for themselves and reflectively interpret and construct meaning about their observations and teaching. Teachers were organized into four dyads and one triad for field placements in elementary school classrooms. The participants took observational fieldnotes and constructed an interpretive ethnographic analysis of perceptual and pedagogical considerations using the interpretive process defined by N. K. Denzin (1989). Results made it apparent that learning ethnographic work through constructivist processes enabled these preservice teachers to develop reflectively and pedagogically. The methodology assisted these teachers in exploring classroom settings. Four of the five groups moved beyond previously established perceptual boundaries to make sense of the complexities they interpreted in field settings. These results demonstrate that teacher educators can use ethnographic methodology to assist preservice teachers to develop reflectivity and to become teacher-researchers. (Contains 81 references.) (SLD)