Action research is one of the relevant methodologies for addressing research questions and issues in middle grades education. Accounting for nearly 20% of published middle grades research studies (Hough, 2003), action research has emerged as an important and appropriate research method. In addition to reviewing the historical context, this article…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to address research on major challenges faced in attempting to mainstream education for sustainable development (ESD). Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on a project for infusing ESD in a teachers' college programme in Jamaica. Findings: Challenges include colleagues' scepticism, students'…

Some action research today lacks a critical edge. This article identifies five inadequate forms of action research, and argues that action research must be capable of "telling unwelcome truths" against schooling in the interests of education. It reasserts a connection between education and emancipatory ideals that allow educators to address…

This article outlines how a group of primary school teachers from a cluster of nine schools in a networked learning community enquired into their classroom teaching. The teachers each identified an area of practice that they were developing in their classroom and wanted to evaluate, such as the benefits of pupils working in teams, or the creation…

This article reports recent foraging for ideas in action research among the lives and intellects of Chinese society. It began and is reported as a personal journey, initially following the trail of the activist scholar Wang Yang-Ming. The method is a roam through some of the resources that have so far been discovered. The style is…

The strategy of getting students to understand science content using critical thinking has been widely used by instructors for decades. The methodology presented here was used to teach and improve critical-thinking skills in an atmosphere that focused on content material and was devoid of educational terminology. (Contains 2 figures.)

Based on an approximate eight month critical ethnographic action research project at a U.S. Midwestern high school in 2004-2005, this article presents data related to the linguistic ideology and associated cultural assimilationist attitudes and practices at Junction High School. During an intercultural peace curricula development project, members…

This article describes the basic elements of an intensive action research process. The process started from an educational programme offered to professional groups interested in the problems in developing the public sector as a forum that would transcend the boundaries separating different work organisations. The introduction of the programme…

This article discusses the role of imagination in science education. It provides a justification for imaginative thinking in the context of school science, as well as some strategies that can be implemented by science teachers in their classrooms.

In the developing countries of the world, Nigeria and Ghana especially have consistently been battling with large enrollment of students into the institutions of higher learning. The attendant problem of the traditional instructional delivery system that poses a serious challenge to the 21st century educational development therefore needs…

This paper is about a study, which has been carried out at a chemical production facility in Izmir, Turkey during the spring of 2006 using Participatory Action Research process in a training course exploiting Learning Management System. The system has been tested with 12 chemists working in this factory. The technical training course was carried…

Background: The working context for speech and language therapists (SLTs) delivering interventions to adults who have a learning disability has changed following the reorganization of care provision from hospitals to the community. Consequently, SLTs often deliver their care within a social model of disability through indirect intervention in…

As university professors we sought to disrupt the practice of giving our students the actions we felt they should imitate in their teaching practice. Instead, we sought to actively engage teachers in the creation of workable solutions to real-life problems. We accomplished this by conducting a participatory action research project. This paper…

Many students have difficulty when first exposed to statistical concepts. In the case of service teaching arrangements where the focus is more on the statistical literacy needs of the profession and concepts need to be developed in short time frames the challenges are even more imposing, particularly if cohorts contain substantial numbers of…

In this study, I examined the impressions of 10 preservice education degree teachers at Haramaya University, Ethiopia, toward their engagement in action research as part of their practicum courses. Because action research is a recent component in education of teachers in Ethiopia, I explored the insights gained by preservice teachers from their…