Drawing on philosophy, curriculum theory, and studies of teacher education, this article questions the results of implementing teacher-thinking research in teacher education programs. Advocates a shift from research utilization and implementation to questions of curriculum deliberation and justification in teacher education. (GEA)

Drawing on philosophy, curriculum theory, and studies of teacher education, this paper aims to reconstruct the implementation question in teacher thinking research. To exemplify the argument and show what is entailed in curriculum deliberation for teaching teachers, the paper examines a particular study of teacher thinking, Dan C. Lortie's…

This paper analyzes how philosophy enters into inquiry in teacher education, in writings by both philosophers and nonphilosophers. Examples illustrate philosophical activities (such as conceptual and logical analysis, positing and explaining distinctions, evoking shared ideas and values), as well as showing that philosophy plays an important part…

Four questions are posed: (1) Is knowledge utilization a rhetorical evocation? (2) Is the conjunction of knowledge with utility part of a cultural system of common sense? (3) Is utility a normative or a descriptive concept? and (4) How does the concept of knowledge utilization figure in the specialized discourse of social scientists? This paper…

Educators are under almost constant pressure to make schooling relevant to the lives of their students. Students, however, who are never exposed to the realms of possibility beyond their own immediate experience hardly have an equal opportunity to enjoy the benefits of education, since everyday experience tends to reinforce social inequalities.…

Evaluated in this study are 20 elementary school teachers' responses to a categorical statement concerning teacher decision-making. The statement used was: "Teaching depends on dividing the school day into chunks of time for each separate subject-matter area." Using the results, the way the 20 teachers talked is described and analyzed,…

This paper aims to accomplish several purposes through conceptual analysis, story telling and interpretation, excursions into philosophy, and recent studies of teachers' professional development. First, the paper identifies limitations and confusions in current conceptions of teachers' professional thinking: equating teacher thinking with planning…

Research on teachers and teacher thinking finds itself subject to tensions between two prevailing factions. The first sees promise of progress in the rejection of frequently conservative, idiosyncratic teachers' thoughts; the second embraces those thoughts as expressions of a sacred, lived truth. Detecting conflicting mythologies at the core of…

This paper examines the area of teachers' practical arguments (arugments consisting in the search for a plan of action), considering questions such as: How does rationality manifest itself in practice, and in specific human practices like teaching? Is practical reasoning in teaching moral? Do values of theoretical reasoning, such as universality,…

This paper, on the central and distinctive contribution of knowledge to teaching, combines philosophical analysis with a discussion of work in research on teaching, student conceptions, and curriculum. The hierarchical argument contains two main points: (1) that content knowledge is a logical precondition for the activities of teaching; and (2)…

This article examines factors which contribute to the development of professional thinking in the helping professions, including teaching. Additional topics include the dangers of overrating and misconceiving individual choice and of confusing professional autonomy with personal freedom. (IAH)

This paper suggests that the conception of teacher thinking must be expanded beyond planning and decision making. People's ordinary conception of thinking includes imagining and remembering, judging and interpreting, as well as aspects of caring and feeling. To understand the scope and meaning of teachers' thought researchers must broaden and…

When working against fragmentation in education, coherence must not be confused with consistency. While consistency implies logical relations and the absence of contradictions, coherence allows for many kinds of connectedness, including associations of ideas and feelings, intimations of resemblance, conflicts and tensions, and imaginative leaps.…

Concern for coherence in European teacher education is fueled by changes in political organization and teacher mobility. "Coherence" is a value-laden concept, yet its meaning is unclear. In the United States, advocates of coherence assume that a tightly connected set of experiences is needed to give teacher education programs sufficient power.…