International and national studies have reported that health professionals who grew up in a rural area are more likely to return to work in a rural area than their urban raised counterparts. The chronic severe shortage of health professionals in rural and remote Australia has meant inequitable health care for rural and remote communities and a…

Engineering, the "E" in STEM, is seldom taught as a distinct curriculum subject in English and Welsh schools to pupils under the age of 14 years. This contrasts with design and technology (D&T), taken in this paper to represent the largest contributor to the "T" in STEM (the remainder being taken to be the computing and…

This study explores student success courses from the student perspective to answer three questions: What topics do students find the most useful? What teaching methods do the students find most helpful? How can these courses be customized to better serve the students? The purpose of this study is to interview students from a number of community…

Many questions have been raised about student voice as a channel for change. School Improvement--especially regarding information and communications technology (ICT)--is often driven by adult agendas, and even in the classroom students are least likely to be involved in bringing about change. This paper reports on a case of student action research…

This article discusses the theoretical relationships between inclusion in education and social justice. It draws on Martha Nussbaum's use of the capability approach is given as one of the few philosophical and political theories that places disability/impairment in the social justice debate. The article goes on to present findings from the initial…

This paper introduces key debates in the contemporary practice of disability research and examines how these apply to conceptualising, designing and conducting research with people with intellectual disability. Specifically, it describes a collaborative action-oriented reflexive approach to researching the lived experience of people with…

Ownership is not a "natural" property of objects, but is determined by human intentions. Facts about who owns what may be altered by appropriate decisions. However, young children often deny the efficacy of transfer decisions, asserting that original owners retain rights to their property. In Experiment 1, 4-5-year-old and 7-8-year-old children…

Participatory action research (PAR) assumes a dialectic model of change where the tension between institutionalization and contestation practices leads to change in schools. This view openly contradicts the three dominating views of institutionalization in the educational change literature. Over the past 11 years, research has been conducted to…

This paper explores how ethnographic and action research methodologies can be justifiably combined to create a new methodological approach in educational research. It draws on existing examples in both educational research and development studies that have discussed the use of ethnography and action research in specific projects. Interpretations…

Advanced mathematics courses have been developed and refined by the first author, using an action research methodology, for more than a decade. These courses use the computer algebra system (CAS) Maple in an "immersion mode" where all presentations and student work are done using Maple. Assignments and examinations are Maple files downloaded from…

Purpose: Although participatory action research (PAR) is increasingly viewed as an important complement to traditional investigator-driven research, relatively little PAR has taken place in which older adults have been prominent partners. This article provides a review of the literature on PAR in gerontology, highlighting key studies and their…

In this article we draw on data from a two-cycle action research project, in which ways of teaching reconciliation in post-apartheid secondary school classrooms are explored. We undertake a detailed analysis of a selection of artefacts produced by South African students representing their understandings of reconciliation. Initially students' work…

This article discusses practitioner inquiry in a South African context. It begins by outlining the changing policy context in the country, particularly since the advent of democracy in 1994. The implications of these changes for practitioner inquiry are then discussed. The article explores some issues and dilemmas arising from this context,…

This paper explores how action research theories and practices are remodelled in local contexts and used to support educational reform. From an analysis of 46 publications from the period 2000-2008, five "variations" in the globalized theory and practice of action research are identified: action research in times of political upheaval and…

This article provides a description of the birth of The Odyssey Initiative. As teachers, this group of three, all educators, knew that there was outrage about the state of education in America. Griping about our nation's schools has almost become a pastime, and with very good reason. However, they found the solutions being offered to save our…