investigaciones

new and startling that will have universal application.
Teachers have neither the time nor the inclination to
engage in this type of work. Action research, on the other
hand, provides opportunities for teachers to investigate
their own professional practices, classrooms, schools, and
communities as decision makers, peers, leaders, and
learners-not just as implementers of other people’s ideas
and consumers of externally produced knowledge about
teaching and learning. Conducting action research allows
teachers to maintain a line of personal inquiry in the
context of the classroom, where most formal learning takes
place. Teachers can test their ideas about teaching and
learning. They can work with peers and question each
other, reflecting on, and redesigning their teaching
activities.
There are two common themes found in the articles
published here. The questions pursued by the authors arose
naturally from the context of their everyday working lives
as teachers, and having the support of peers was an
important factor in helping everyone successfully complete
their projects. As one teacher from the group said:
“Action research is something that teachers do already.
They implement something and monitor its success. What
is interesting about formal action research, however, is that
I noticed that it encouraged members of our group to begin
working on big ideas...on problems that had been in the
back of their minds for a long time. In a way, it encourages
them to follow their dreams and do what really matters.”
As in any other research work, not everyone in the group
got the results they were hoping for, but that was not the
point of this undertaking. The goal was to provide an
opportunity to a group of practitioners to reflect on their
practices, and to help them “follow their dreams and do
what really matters.”
All professions are informed by a knowledge base, and
teaching is no exception. We have a body of accepted
research literature on successful teaching and schooling
practices. As in other professions, teachers are expected to
be familiar with, make use of, and respect the foundations
of their practice. But in all the other professions except
teaching, practitioners are also expected to interact with,
and contribute to, the development of their profession’s
vi
Teacher Research in the Backyard