Rethinking the relationship between research and practice in teaching

The paper examines the relationship between contemporary research on teaching and teaching practice, including the varied reasons educators give for the weak relationship, several questionable assumptions researchers share about the linkage between research and practice, and researchers' implicit view that teaching is an applied science. As an alternative to the applied science conception, the author proposes teaching be viewed as a moral craft. In comparison to the applied science conception, the moral craft perspective engenders a more holistic view of teaching, leads to a stronger link between research on teaching and teaching practice, and decreases the likelihood that research on teaching will mask normative issues fundamental to teaching practice.