Abstract

Research on best practices for teacher education has identified key elements to promote effective teaching that will maximize learning in students. Among them is the capability of teacher education programs to promote reflective thinking in teachers (Russel, 2000). One strategy for promoting such high level of thinking is the use of action research in teacher preparation. This research project used an action research approach to investigate the teaching of action research to teacher interns during full-time student teaching. As such, it represents a systematic look at educational practices used to teach undergraduates to engage in action research. The findings reveal that undergraduate students were able to learn the process of action research through instructional practices that presented the research process in steps, peer support through online discussions, and professor support through feedback on each component of the final project. A working model, emphasizing stages with feedback provided the means to maintain students with the task of systematically examining a problem of their concern for a sustained period of time (one semester). This model promoted deeper levels of reflectivity than is typically exhibited in undergraduate students.