Over the past three decades, research and policy in many geographic regions has promoted a shift from direct, lecture-oriented mathematics instruction to inquiry-based, "dialogic" forms of instruction. While theory and research support dialogic instructional approaches, some have noted that the complexities of dialogic teaching make it…

Problem solving follows a cycle of inquiry where the individual iterates between finding possible paths and exploring their likely effectiveness before selecting one as a possible solution. The cycle is enhanced through proximal processes because the number of paths that can be explored in depth are greater when more people work on the same…

The rapidly changing world and the increasingly complex demands placed on schools because of that change has led to an increasing awareness that the school principal alone cannot provide all of the leadership necessary for school development. More and more school districts are asking teachers to share leadership responsibilities with school…

The purpose of the paper is to describe our peer mentorship experiences and explain how these experiences fostered transformational learning during our PhD graduate program in educational administration. As a literature backdrop, we discuss characteristics of traditional forms of mentorship and depict how our experiences of peer mentorship was…

At a large, urban community college located in the Northeastern United States, a group of faculty interested in helping students assume agency in their own learning used the methodology of Collaborative Inquiry (CI) as a way to examine the factors that help or hinder this process. Unexpected was the epistemological shift they underwent as a result…

Educators from eight institutions engaged in collaborative self-studies of their own practices to gain deeper insight into the significance of narrative-based writing supporting the process of teacher induction. A series of teacher induction institutes based on narrative writing processes provided the context for critical exploration of the lived…

This paper presents a promising and powerful approach used to cultivate a doctoral community of inquiry and practice and harness the intelligence, commitment, and energy of all of its members in a blended learning environment. The discussion board online learning community approach was developed to transform a traditional face-to-face doctoral…

This article is about a group of eight people joined by a common idea--a strong call to enrich education in Croatia so that it motivates leadership and empowers children. Through use of philosophy and methodology of Appreciative Inquiry, this informal group of people has gradually developed into the core team of a potential national movement.…

For a quarter century, Kansas State University's College of Education has supported a Professional Development School (PDS) model involving professional collaboration with selected public school systems across Kansas. In that time, this relationship has proved to be an instrumental vehicle for educational change. The state of Kansas' adoption and…

This paper recounts the investigative journey of a small group of faculty and graduate students at the University of British Columbia who extensively employed research-based theatre methods to collaboratively and performatively explore three distinct but related contexts that represent critical "moments" in the professional lives of…

Devoting time to a professional learning community (PLC) can be frustrating or rewarding. The authors have experienced both of these outcomes and can share processes that may help make your PLC one that enriches your professional growth and improves your students' learning. In this article they provide guidelines to make your experience…

Despite their experience as writing center directors (WCDs) and their knowledge of the literature on writing center administration, the authors wondered why their interactions with upper level administrators (ULAs) so often left them feeling angered or mystified. The all-too-clear evidence of their ineffectual responses to their seemingly…

A year-long inquiry was conducted in response to the following questions: How does the relationship and teaching practice of a new co-teaching partnership evolve throughout the course of a school year? How can a consultant support the work of a new co-teaching partnership? The work of a general education and special education teacher in their…

School librarians know the importance of collaboration. They cannot run effective school library programs unless they work closely with classroom teachers. They have learned that deep collaboration is a fluid process that evolves over time. Only as connections are made and relationships are forged can real instructional progress occur. Yet it…

The authors engaged nonscience majors enrolled in an integrated science course with a prototype activity designed to change their mindset from cookbook to inquiry science. This article describes the activity, the Warm Little Pond, which helped students develop essential understanding of basic statistics, significant figures, and the idea that…