ABSTRACT
Researching is introduced as an assemblage in which three elements—the focus, means of study, and the explanation premises—mutually define each other. Time, place, and causal agency are examined as explanatory premises that underwrite researching teacher learning and professional development. Studies often contrast time,as well as place as the teacher’s classroom, before and following professional development to document teacher learning. Causal agency assumes that professional development will cause the teacher to act or teach differently thus influencing student learning. These ideas work as “shadows on the periphery,” organizing research studies to include certain concerns while overlooking others. The phrase, “the teachers who are not in the room,” refers to the social geography of research explanations which assume that what is studied refers to other circumstances as well. To reverse the social geography, teacher professional learning needs to be studied from the inside out which entails developing and using alternative explanations. These are presented in Chapters 5 through 8 in Part II.
