Deepening our Understanding of Praxis : Teacher educators' reflections on action research

Although a significant body of scholarship examines action research, little has been written about its pedagogical implications within preservice teacher education. This article highlights some of the challenges involved in teaching action research to preservice teachers. In analyzing contrasting cases of receptivity to change, the authors derive new insight from and about praxis, a concept that signals the dual nature of action research: understanding and action. Two of the cases described in the article represent resistance to the change orientation of action research. One of these cases is at the individual (teacher candidate) level and one is at the institutional (cooperating school) level. The other two cases are examples of a teacher candidate's and school's readiness for change. By using praxis as an analytic tool, the authors developed deeper awareness of the problems that teacher candidates can have with both understanding and action. They describe these problems and conclude with pedagogical insights they gained from this analysis.