Learning to Do Action Research through a Thought-Experiment Approach

Action research is defined and scholarship is presented to suggest a central role for the action-research cycle of framing an inquiry question, developing and implementing an instructional plan, collecting and analyzing data on the outcomes and possible answers to the inquiry question, reflecting on the results in consultation with students and colleagues, and using new understandings to inform subsequent rounds of the cycle. A thought-experiment approach is suggested for the purposes of fitting into a teacher-preparation syllabus a vivid enough introduction to the action-research cycle for teacher candidates to internalize the process and be able to utilize it to continually improve their teaching practices. The author describes and analyzes his own effort to teach the action-research process in two sections of an introductory course in special education within the undergraduate teacher education program at an institution of higher education in western Kansas.