This paper presents an overview of research on academic tasks in the classroom and describes some of the themes that are emerging from studies in this area. The concept of "academic task" is defined along with problems associated with using this theoretical construct in classroom research. Three conceptions of how content should be represented to illustrate dimensions of the problems of curriculum in the classroom are summarized. How content is represented in teachers' definitions of academic work are explored. The meaning of these data for classroom research and understanding problems of professional practice in teaching and teacher education are discussed. A three page list of references concludes the report. (DF)