The contribution of close-to-practice research to the knowledge base of the teacher profession

- an analysis of knowledge products from collaborative didactic research

Abstract

By examining what kind of knowledge products that are generated in researcher and teacher collaborative didactic research projects, this study presents and discusses examples of how close-to-practice research can contribute to the knowledge base of the teacher profession. The empirical data consists of published research articles from the research environment Stockholm Teaching & Learning Studies (STLS). Through a content analysis, four (i-iv) categories of knowledge products have been identified: (i) Learning objects, (ii) Teaching design, (iii) Didactic examples and (iv) Methodological tools for didactic research. Learning objects describes what characterizes a specific content knowledge in a specific context. Teaching design specifies relationships between the teaching and consequences for students' learning. Didactic examples include rich descriptions of teaching and students' learning as a basis for didactic reflection. Methodological tools for didactic research focus on combining and testing methods for planning and analysis of teaching. The result can be seen as a typology of the different types of knowledge that close-to-practice research can contribute to the teacher profession.