This paper recognizes current interest in "the practical," particularly in research on teaching, and it explores similarities or distinctions between underlying conceptions of the practical across several programs, research projects, and scholarly reflections on teaching. Following an introduction, the paper reviews three research programs: Joseph J. Schwab's examination of conceptions of the practical (1978); "(Personal) Practical Knowledge" by Freema Elbaz (1981); and work on practical reasoning by Gary D. Fenstermacher (1986), Jana Noel (1991), Robert Orton (1992), and Shirley Pendlebury (1991). The analysis finds that each has the same general goal: the understanding of what teachers know and how they think rather than how they behave. An examination of conceptions of the practical pays more detailed attention to three specific aspects of research on teaching: content of the practical as the interaction between situational and personal aspects of the teacher and the teaching situation; methods as concepts of deliberation for specific decision making; and various approaches to guiding principles of the practical. A conclusion discusses the similarities and distinctions and argues that conceptions of the practical share some common bases for the research on and discussions of teaching based on these conceptions. (Contains 25 references.) (JB)