Zones: reconceptualizing teacher thinking in relation to action

The authors of this article value the framework provided by the conceptions and approaches to teaching literature, yet have come to feel it does not fully represent the complexity of the relation between teacher thinking and action. Drawing on a socio-cognitive perspective, they studied lecturer interviews collected over a semester to examine how their thinking related to action. They identified four zones of thinking that represent a spectrum of specificity of thinking in relation to action. Each represents conceptually distinct thinking, having a particular characteristic and use, yet their boundaries are fluid. The authors propose that the zones encompass the space from conceptions through to action, which enables the reconceptualization of the relation between thinking and action, thus making a substantial contribution to the present understanding of this relationship.