"On Teacher Inquiry" could be read as an answer to the question, "Teacher Research: What's in it for the students?" This new volume in the "NCRLL Collection" addresses the relationships among teacher research, teacher practice, and student learning. The authors observe, analyze, raise questions, design methodologies, and build relationships with…

The teacher research movement has encouraged the development of "practitioner research" action-oriented and reflective studies among teachers and teacher educators alike. This study compares the profile of research conducted in the Israeli academic teacher colleges with that performed by university faculty. A content analysis of the 204…

This article explores the relationship between research and teaching, arguing that each of them is both a demanding science and an imaginative art, and that they both manifest the values and processes of learning, the open mind and the open heart, as it were. This is a rather different proposition from the notion that "evidence" can be "applied"…

The overall segregationist milieu of the educational enterprise serves to forestall movement in the search of a comprehensive theory of literacy and literacy instruction. Building such a theory mandates a democratically disposed, pluralistic research community. Sociologically, the theory-to-practice norm sustains an artificial hierarchy within the…

This Critical Practitioner Inquiry (CPI) Newsletter is a forum for exchanging ideas and experiences about CPI in different universities worldwide. This first edition of the newsletter contains the following articles: (1) Critical Practitioner Inquiry--Working Against the Grain (Lars Dahlstrom), which explains the concept of CPI; (2) Critical…

This paper introduces "lesson study" as used in Japan to improve instruction. Lesson study is the process of planning, conducting, and discussing the research lesson for teachers to study. Four features are identified as essential to Japanese lesson study: (1) a shared long-term goal for teachers; (2) important lesson content; (3)…

This paper focuses on the role of collaboration in facilitating critical reflection and interpretation of data in a collaborative research project undertaken by school-based and university-based researchers. The popular image of research in the natural and social sciences has long been dominated by the figure of the lone researcher, but this image…

This guide explains how to establish a research program within a school and how to get students involved in independent research projects and national research competitions. Chapter 1, "Selling the Program," examines benefits to the community, school, teachers, and students. Chapter 2, "Assessing Your Situation," discusses how independent research…

Discusses what the term "teacher as researcher" means in the 1990s. Considers the term's value in the field of reading. Suggests that teacher research is a valuable enterprise. (RS)

Discusses impediments in collaboration between college researchers and teachers. Using case studies, the paper describes how differences can enrich research initiatives and enhance the collaboration. The paper examines "fair trade" as a beginning for negotiations between outsiders and insiders, highlighting the negotiation of fair roles…

The new concept of research on teaching includes such methods as storytelling, narrative, and autobiography, relies on language and dialog, and affirms the centrality and wisdom of teachers. Teachers are able to express their views in their own language, and their knowledge and expertise are respected. (SK)

Practitioner research strengthens teachers as they learn how knowledge is made. The right time for teacher research is after initial training and some years of experience. (SK)

Presents arguments for teacher-researcher collaboration in K-12 technology education. Identifies barriers that must be overcome in order to create a common culture of design and research. (Contains 26 references.) (SK)

Describes the process that two professors used to help their graduate students begin to study their respective practices through ethnographic teacher-research. Notes that the systematic and intentional inquiry of teacher-research provided a relevant context for investigation of teaching and learning about literacy. Describes their processes of…

This article explores the history of practitioner-based enquiry in education and the degree to which it bridges the gap between leadership research and leadership practice. In doing so it draws on the findings from an evaluation of NCSL's Research Associate Programme. Several key drivers are identified behind the increased interest in…