This paper describes a collaborative action research approach used to explore peer observation of teaching (POT) within the online environment. Although POT has become familiar in face-to-face teaching contexts, little is understood of its potential role in online settings. We conducted "virtual" focus groups to explore the experience…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a program for improving the recreational reading habits of fifth-grade students and encouraging them to become lifelong readers. The targeted population lived in a growing, low- to upper-middle-class, suburban community, located in Hanover Park, approximately 35 miles west of Chicago, Illinois. Students in…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a program to improve writing performance across the curriculum. The targeted population consisted of students (n=73) from the elementary sector of a middle-class community in a south suburb of Chicago, Illinois. The problem of deficiencies in student writing throughout content areas was documented through…

A developmental project was designed to improve the course of study for Reading Specialist Credential candidates at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly). The project is an example of action research that systematically developed an inservice presentation for improvement of classroom instruction in language arts.…

The "Teachers as Researchers in the Context of Award Bearing Courses and Research Degrees" is a United Kingdom project that explores the claims made for action research and the criticisms levelled against it. This paper offers a set of "readings" of six action research projects. After Part 1, which serves as an introduction,…

This collaborative study centered around the development and implementation of an integrative module for science and language arts methods courses in a teacher education program. The study was conducted within an action research framework and was informed by perspectives on collaborative inquiry and the two instructors' personal practical…

This paper describes the dilemmas of leadership experienced by principals and superintendents in Norway. The term "dilemma" refers to contradictory orientations that these educational leaders experienced in their job activities. Dilemmas are categorized in terms of legality, which pertains to the formal steering of the schools, or in…

The field work for this study was conducted in South Africa in 1987-1989, before the end of apartheid, but much of the critical reflection and engagement postdates the empirical research. The project examined the role of the facilitator in the process of educational change. The research involved 34 teachers from primary schools. Chapter one…

Epistemic thought is a process that focuses on the origin of human knowledge. This paper describes inquiry-based leadership, a viewpoint that integrates epistemic thought with the realities of school administration. The paper examines the art of teacher inquiry and its link to Inquiry-Based Leadership (IBL), and presents a school-university…

Three action research projects were conducted with the intention of creating peaceful learning environments in Canadian schools from kindergarten to twelfth grade. The first project focused on social skills development, especially conflict management, for elementary school students in a rural New Brunswick school. Staff used Washington state's…

A study examined and described a program to improve writing skills and related attitudes of elementary school students. Targeted population consisted of second- and fifth-grade students in a stable, middle class suburban community, located 20 miles southwest of Chicago, Illinois. The problems of underdeveloped writing skills and lack of student…

Action research, which, broadly defined, was one of the activities in which educators following in the footsteps of John Dewey engaged, emerged as a systematic approach for improving educational practice in the two decades following World War II. Action research then passed into relative obscurity. It has recently re-emerged in the educational…

The changing role of the external researcher is explored in the context of two action research projects in Malaga (Spain). The first project was an evaluation of a trade school program for disadvantaged young people in a low-income rural area of Spain. Researchers began as friendly evaluators in a democratic evaluation of the program's first…

An action research project was conducted at Ohio's Sinclair Community College to review and revise the early childhood teacher education curriculum. First, a modified Developing a Curriculum (DACUM) process was undertaken. Over 800 tasks from 8 validated task lists obtained from early childhood education (ECE) programs at other community colleges…

This book addresses the subject of environmental education in the context of educational and social change. It focuses on the synthesis of action research and community problem solving in the context of education. The result, Action Research and Community Problem Solving (ARCPS), can be defined as a process that enables students and teachers to…