Provides a rationale and framework for promoting critical reflection in teacher preparation, focusing on what critical reflection is, whether and how reflective practice can be taught, constructivist methods, dialogue as a form of teaching, action research to nurture reflective practice, and writing as a tool to encourage connections between…

Throughout its history, adult literacy education has been defined, researched, and controlled by external entities. Action research is now enabling literacy practitioners and learners to gain a voice through production of their own knowledge. The applicability, benefits, and inherent risks of practitioner action research are discussed. Contains 53…

Service-learning is a pedagogy that promotes an action research philosophy in early childhood teacher education. Components of meaningful service-learning programs include: (1) clear interrelation with academic goals of the course; (2) student participation in the assessment process; (3) students and faculty becoming part of the community to be…

This article discusses a participatory action research (PAR) approach to conducting family research. It proposes a model of PAR implementation level including the options of family members as research leaders and researchers as ongoing advisors, researchers and family members as coresearchers, and researches as leaders, and family members as…

Discusses the use of technology to teach middle school social studies and history. Explores how technology can be used to address experiential learning styles by applying constructivist principles, while Microsoft PowerPoint presentations can enrich teacher-centered approaches and reach verbal, kinesthetic, and visual learning styles. Describes a…

This article outlines an action-oriented research project regarding the University of British Columbia's engagement with sustainability. In 1997, the University of British Columbia (UBC) created a sustainability policy that suggests all UBC students should be educated about sustainability. Using data from a series of in-depth interviews the author…

The first part of this paper describes the rationale for and process of engaging student teachers in action research during the fourth and final year of their teacher education, which is also their first year as teachers (induction year). During this year the novice teachers are engaged in an action research project as a compulsory assignment in…

Three faculty used action research to address concerns with student learning but in the process also learned of its value for their own professional development. Through semi-structured interviews, multiple case vignettes, and peer collaboration, they addressed student cognitive and affective learning concerns, made adjustments in their…

We introduce participatory action research as a strategy for "consultation with." We elaborate the possibilities and limits of participatory consultation as a strategy that enables sustained relations with communities of material poverty and resilience wealth. Consulting with an activist organization, and dedicated to producing a…

In this paper, we report some reflections on science and education, in relation to teaching and research in the field of complex and controversial socio-environmental issues. Starting from an examination of the literature on the epistemological aspects of the science of controversial issues, and introducing the perspective of complexity, the…

Reflection, in a classroom setting, presents educators with a method for narrowing the theory-practice gap. Material from the practice environment can be brought into the classroom and used as the substance of learning from experience. Enabling students to understand and value reflection is an essential part of this process. It is also a process…

What does learning in the outdoors involve? What are the benefits of outdoor experience--and learning? What approaches are effective? What are the benefits for teachers and schools? How can what happens in the "outdoor classroom" be best integrated with the "in-school" curriculum? The research summarised in this article…

The article reports on an action research project, informed by transformative learning theory. Transformative learning involves individuals gaining an awareness of their current habits of mind, and resulting points of views accompanied by a critique of their assumptions and premises, an assessment of alternative views, a decision to negate an old…

This article is an attempt to describe the development of my understanding of the purpose of practitioner research over the first 4 years of a project leading to a PhD. It tells the story of the evolution of my thinking, from an initial focus on the curriculum and the children's unsophisticated thinking about race as the source of the problem, to…

This article describes a three-part classroom guidance lesson that teaches middle school students the definition of sexual harassment, the difference between flirting and sexual harassment, and the harmful effects of sexual harassment. An action research study evaluated the effectiveness of the lessons in decreasing referrals for sexual harassment…