Abstract:

School-based teaching research currently faces three interrelated structural dilemmas: the absence of evidence renders teaching research groundless; the neglect of learning processes causes classroom transformation to lose focus; and power asymmetry under the evaluation orientation undermines teachers’ professional judgment. These dilemmas compound one another and severely constrain the effective functioning of teaching research. In response, this study introduces evidence-based principles and constructs a “deep school-based teaching research” pathway, with observation of students’ learning processes and critical incident analysis as its technical support. At the evidence level, this pathway replaces subjective experience with students’ learning evidence, shifting the basis of teaching research from “experience” to “facts.” At the object level, it shifts the research focus from teachers’ instructional behaviors to students’ learning processes and outcomes. At the mechanism level, it replaces the traditional “observation-evaluation-guidance” paradigm with “observation-description-listening-dialogue,” granting every teaching research participant the professional right to equal dialogue and collaborative inquiry grounded in observed learning facts. Evidence from practice indicates that deep teaching research grounded in students’ learning evidence can lead to the restructuring of participants’ cognitive frameworks, the formation of emotional identification, and the self-directed renewal of teaching actions. It further guides teachers toward professional growth, fosters the natural emergence of teacher communities, and lays a solid foundation for “learning-centered” whole-school transformation.

Key words: evidence-based practice, students’ learning evidence, deep school-based teaching research