This paper demonstrates the importance and implications of Hannah Arendt's theory of action for action research. Using examples from my teaching experience I demonstrate the relevance of her ideas in understanding the purpose and aims of action research in the classroom.

The blackboard, a useful teaching tool in nineteenth-century England, was transformed into a teaching necessity in the decades following 1870, when the Education Acts made school free and mandatory for all children. The resulting huge population of schoolchildren inspired the development of teaching techniques appropriate for large-group learning.…

The purpose of this research was to examine teachers' perspectives on transitioning from a predominately whole to small-group delivery method during reading instruction. This study used a qualitative approach and nested itself in an epistemology of constructivism. The research operated under the umbrella of practice ethnography as it closely…

A recent project involving Year 3 (seven-eight year-old) pupils and their teachers revealed that "gender matters" differently to boys and girls, and teachers. The study sought to elicit whether pupils and their teachers felt the gender of a teacher mattered to their experiences of schooling. Pupils were concerned about how effective…

Contemporary commentary notes that students are frequently ahead of their teachers in their ability to manipulate and be creative with the internet, digital programs, and mobile technology. In this context it is important to ask, "What knowledge do teachers need to teach in the contemporary context where texts are elaborately multimodal,…

A large body of research has demonstrated the value of fostering peer interaction in the context of collaborative group work as an effective strategy to facilitate learning. The present study attempted to enable teachers in a varied sample of 24 Scottish primary classrooms to improve the quality of collaborative group work interaction among their…

This article articulates how a "grasp of practice" serves as a reasoning resource for inquiry and citizenship abilities associated with nature of science (NOS) understanding. Theoretically, this resource is elaborated through an overlapping concern with "practice" in two literatures, science studies and psychology of learning, bringing attention…

Having young readers manipulate objects to correspond to the characters and actions in a text greatly enhances comprehension as measured by both recall and inference tests. As a step toward classroom implementation, we applied this manipulation strategy in small (three-child) reading groups. For successive critical sentences, one child would read…

Explores the potential of teacher research for informing theory. Contends that arguments about the perspectives of researchers and teachers are founded upon positivistic assumptions undergirding particular views of research as well as definitions of researcher and teacher. Encourages collaborative researchers to examine the philosophical bases of…

Provides a list of possible investigations that can be usefully carried out by the teacher in the classroom. (HOD)

Describes a collaboration between a researcher and a fifth grade teacher, and how the teacher progressed gradually from a beleaguered instructor to a "researching teacher" capable of solving problems. (HTH)

Two studies are reported which investigate the concept learning of 116 sixth graders (study 1) and 107 second graders (study 2) depending on the model of concept presentation. Results showed no difference between the structured Merrill and Tennyson model and adaptations of the model which were responsive to student's questions or recycled missed…

Examines a recent study of children's definitions of classroom work and play and discusses the implications of the findings for curriculum and teaching. Findings show that children in kindergarten call required work activities, work, and voluntary ones, play. Fifth graders define play as any activity, voluntary or required, which is pleasurable.…

Emphasizing the spring migration of frogs, toads, and salamanders to their watery breeding sites, this article presents information on numerous amphibians and suggests both indoor and outdoor educational activities appropriate for elementary and/or early secondary instruction. (JC)

Reviews research on the effects of classroom observers upon both teachers and pupils. Discusses strategies used by researchers to obtain credibility in the eyes of the teachers being observed and those used by teachers to cope with the researchers in the classroom. (NRJ)