This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Licensethis quality. Classroom teachers are concerned, of course, about both moral development and categorizing of
students. But if teachers had designed the two projects themselves, they might have re-framed both of them to focus
more explicitly on the challenges of classroom teaching. In studying moral beliefs, for example, teachers might have
focused more squarely on how to foster moral beliefs in their students. In studying inclusive education, they might
have focused more fully on the practical difficulties faced by teachers in assessing students’ learning disabilities
with validity.
The nature of action research
In view of these issues, a particularly important kind of investigation for teachers is action research (sometimes
also teacher research), an activity referring to systematic, intentional inquiry by teachers for the purpose of
improving their own practice (Stenhouse, 1985; Brydon-Miller, Greenwood, & Maguire, 2003; Russell, T. &
Loughran, J. 2005). Action research is not to be confused with research about teaching and learning, which are
investigations by professional researchers on topics of teachers, teaching, or learning.
Action research has several defining characteristics, in addition to being planned and conducted by teachers.
First, it originates in the problems and dilemmas of classroom practice, or in chronic problems with certain
students, materials, or activities. Second, its outcomes offer information focused on particular teachers and
classrooms, rather than about teachers in general or students in general. Although this feature might make action
research seem less useful as a source of advice or knowledge that is truly general, supporters argue that focusing on
specific learning contexts makes action research more credible or valid as a source of practical information and
ideas. It is, they argue, simply more attuned to the context of real classrooms (St. Clair, 2005). Third, while the
audience for action research can certainly include professors and educational administrators, the audience tends to
be other teachers (Fenstermacher, 1994; Ackerman & MacKenzie, 2007). Action research is therefore in an
especially strong position to provide "insider" perspectives on educational problems.
Action research in practice
Action research makes a number of assumptions as a result of its nature and purposes (Richardson, 1994;
Schmuck, 2006). To varying degrees, most such studies support some combination of these ideas:
- that teaching is itself really a form of research
- that action research, like teaching itself, requires substantial reflection
- that collaboration among teachers is crucial for making teacher research meaningful, and for the
improvement of teaching - that teachers' knowledge of teaching has to be shared publicly, especially when gained systematically
through action research
To see how these features look in practice, look at several examples of action research studies.
Example #1: Focusing on motivating students
A number of years ago, Patricia Clifford and Sharon Friesen published an account of their effort to develop a
classroom program based on students' out-of-school interests and experiences (1993). Clifford and Friesen
were co-teachers in a double-sized classroom which deliberately included children from first, second andEducational Psychology 367 A Global Text