This study examined the effect of using blogs as reflective journals during a methods course and practicum period on preservice science teacher reflections. The researchers investigated blogging and commenting as potential catalysts for critical reflection using an action research approach. The participants were 10 graduate preservice secondary…

This paper reflects on the challenges and benefits of multidimensional collaboration in an action research study to evaluate and improve preoperative education for patients awaiting colorectal surgery. Three cycles of planning, acting, observing and reflecting were designed to evaluate practice and implement change in this interactive setting,…

The scholar-practitioner approach to leadership has the potential for effectiveness in developing countries through contextual understanding of unique circumstances. The purpose of this study was to survey leadership perceptions of principals in the Toledo District of Belize. This data, in the tradition of scholar-practitioner involvement, was…

The authors discuss how participatory action research (PAR) informs the pedagogy and epistemology of the social justice education. PAR facilitates students' engagement in their social context and acquisition of knowledge to initiate personal and social transformation. The scope of research contains knowledge about social justice issues negatively…

The realisation to integrate science, ethics and morality is recognised with growing impetus in recent years (as noted with introducing the Australian Curriculum "Science as a Human Endeavour" strand), to develop sophisticated epistemologies of science, which includes an appreciation of the social context including ethical thinking. To…

This study uses history of science in teaching natural sciences from the early grades. The theoretical framework used is Cultural Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), which is a theory with expanding applications in different fields of science. The didactical scenario, in which history of science is used in a CHAT context, refers to Newton's…

Two groups of preservice graduate students conducted action research projects in collaboration with a faculty member at two different minority middle schools in New York. In a qualitative approach, one research team explored an effective after school program for achieving, but at risk students. The other sought to understand perspectives on the…

This participatory action research study addressed questions of pedagogical strategies, motivation, assessment, and student choice surrounding an inquiry approach to teaching and learning in a 7th grade social studies classroom. Teacher and student data were collected over a 6-week inquiry project stemming from and directed by student choice. Data…

This study focused on exploring and creating life pathways with a group of twelfth graders at West Philadelphia High School. I invited students to inquire into "life pathways," broadly construed; participants chose to concentrate on transitions to college. Although scholars have investigated many elements of college access, there is…

The purpose of this mixed-methods participatory action research study was to explore the impact of learning communities on students enrolled in the lowest level of developmental math at a two-year college. The learning community consisted of twenty-three students who were enrolled in both a student success course (GEN102) and a developmental math…

The number of students learning a second or foreign language and participating in instruction in languages other than English has been in decline for some time. This seems to be a general tendency across nations albeit for a variety of reasons idiosyncratic to the particular national conditions. This paper gives an account of a diversified…

This study explored a new strategy of assessing laboratory skills in a molecular biology course to improve: student effort in preparation for and participation in laboratory work; valid evaluation of learning outcomes; and students' employment prospects through provision of evidence of their skills. Previously, assessment was based on written…

In 2007 the University of Northern British Columbia initiated a two-year elementary teacher education program at the Northwest Campus in Terrace, British Columbia. The program was designed to meet specific community needs in the North that arise from inequities in the cultural safety of Indigenous teachers and students. The authors share three…

"Blogging across the curriculum: Integrating blogging in the elementary classroom" is an Action Research Project that sought to explore the level of engagement in the writing process by students in grades 3, 4 & 5 while blogging across the curriculum. Blogging took place in homeroom classrooms as well as in the school's math, science and…

This paper describes part of an action research study that was designed to explore the outcomes of an ongoing program in which the participants, a group of domestic and international pre-service teachers and lecturers, worked together in reflective writing workshops. While the primary long-term goal of the program was to develop the intercultural…