Teachers who want to act professionally need to participate in the decision making process. Sound knowledge of current theories is essential as is sound knowledge of students' needs as related to the goals of education. Of particular importance is the willingness to try out alternative approaches and to evaluate the effects of different strategies with individual students. Teachers need to be risk takers who reflect on the educational value of the experiences they took risks to implement. There are four possible ways teachers and administrators may acquire this inquiring/researching stance. One is to identify assumptions inherent in their teaching practices--the ways the furniture is arranged in the classroom, the grouping of students, and the sequencing of lessons. The second approach is to identify one important educational objective and plan a series of activities that will provide opportunities for one or more students to move toward achieving that objective. A third method is to choose a practice or an activity the teacher has read or heard about and evaluate its influence on individual student learners. The fourth approach involves trying out and evaluating the influence of a specific teaching activity currently used on several students' development or learning. (HOD)