The goal of this 4-year study was to investigate the implementation of a secondary science professional development school at a midsized, publicly funded 4-year institution with a large college of education. The study focuses on the preparation of secondary science teachers because improving STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math)…

Purpose: This study aims to present Dramatic Problem Solving Facilitation Model (DPSFM) and Interactive Management (IM) as innovative alternative dispute resolution approaches that incorporate communication technologies in recording and analyzing data. DPSFM utilizes performance-based actions with facilitation methods to help participants design…

The pathway for entering the K-12 classroom as a teacher varies compared to what was once the traditional model of teacher preparation. In this mixed-methods action research study, I explore supporting first year alternatively certified urban and rural intern teachers through a multicomponent distance induction program. The induction model in this…

The purpose of this action research project report was to increase engagement during independent reading for 32 fourth-grade students and 26 seventh-grade science students. At Site A, data was collected from August 27, 2012 through December 14, 2012. At Site B, data was collected from September 24, 2012 through December 14, 2012. Students'…

In this study, I examine what happens when institutional partnerships between schools and universities and classroom partnerships between adults and students are viewed as being situated within multiple, interconnected, shifting systems of networks. Using a feminist framework, I raise questions about what "partnering" means as I specifically…

In many of today's public school classrooms serving students from low-income and minority backgrounds, high-stakes standardized testing overwhelmingly drives both the explicit and implicit curricula. Accordingly, the lessons that children in these classrooms may learn about valid knowledge and knowers, collaboration, or personal and collective…

Practice and inquiry into school-community connections have been guided by problematic assumptions about the role of neighborhood schools, community based institutions, and local economic development policies in the evolution of urban communities. Formal relationships between schools and urban neighborhoods grounded in these assumptions have been…

This action research study investigated the perceptions that student participants had on the development of a career exploration model and a career exploration project. The Holland code theory was the primary assessment used for this research study, in addition to the Multiple Intelligences theory and the identification of a role model for the…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the emergent nature of leadership in a university-based learning network of mature-aged practitioner-scholars. Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on previously published work, interviews, and current research. Findings: The paper finds that once initial structures have been established,…

The development of the metacognitive skill of prediction in deaf students in a middle school social studies classroom was explored in an action research study (Riel, 2006). After observation of this group of learners and assessment of current skills, a unit was developed that integrated the teaching of prediction into their study of the American…

The Library of Birmingham (LoB) is a 193 million British pounds project designed to provide a new space for lifelong learning and knowledge growth, a physical and virtual portal for Birmingham's citizens to the wider world. In cooperation with a range of private, public, and third-sector bodies, as well as individual citizens, the library, due to…

Recent experiences in participatory video-making raise the question of how best to use this medium for enhancing local seed innovation systems. Embedded in a mini-process of participatory action research, two styles of participatory video--scripted and scriptless--were tested and assessed together with farmers and facilitators in Bogra District,…

Purpose: Teacher research (inquiry) has been characterized as practice improvement, professional development and action research, among numerous names and descriptions. The purpose of this paper is to support the case that teacher research is also a form of quality improvement known as continuous process improvement (CPI).…

This paper explores, with a qualitative framework, critical social theory and thematic analysis, the narratives of many Aboriginal elders of Mornington Island (Kunhanhaa) about their history and their potential to form productive kin-based relationships with visiting teachers in order to influence the curriculum and pedagogy delivered at the local…

Use was made of adapted problem-based learning (PBL) practical exercises to address the disengagement of apprentices with the existing assembly-style electronic laboratory programme. Apprentices perceived the traditional routines as having little real-world relevance. This detracted from the value and benefit to them of the practical component of…