This report contains five action research papers in science education. Papers include: (1) "Does Classroom Size in an Industrial Technology Laboratory Affect Grades and Success in Class?" (Chad Bruns); (2) "The Effects of Project Based Learning on Students' Engagement, Independence, and Interest in Physical Geology Class" (Jill…

This action research project was designed to increase students' math competencies and reduce math anxiety in targeted high school classes in a Midwestern suburb. The study included 37 students and took place from September through December in 2002. Factors influencing students' math achievement included self-perceptions of math competence,…

This project was a field research experience designed to enhance the capacity of middle and high school teachers to incorporate active research into their classroom teaching. Evaluation was designed for both formative and summative purposes. All activities in the project had the goal of using inquiry-based learning in the classroom. Teams of one…

This study documents and interprets the efforts made by one elementary science methods professor to make connections between mathematics and science in an elementary science methods course. This is an action research study using an N of one (a case study) from the theoretical stance of symbolic interaction. Participants in this study include the…

This study describes and analyzes the impact on student learning and the learning environment of 55 schools in Broward, Palm Beach, and Miami-Dade school districts as they implemented the schoolwide action-research framework for school improvement. Interviews, observations, document review during site visits, school framework reports, surveys,…

This paper reports on critical Action Research into the scientific literacy of secondary school students, as evidenced in student Reflective Dialogue Journals. Focussed on one secondary school classroom located in Brisbane, Australia, the research draws on literature concerned with writing and its use across the curriculum, particularly as this…

The premise of "Judicious Discipline" states that for students to become responsible citizens they must be given responsibility. Its operating theory is that building a school culture through a non-punitive, democratic approach to classroom management and school discipline produces students who are responsible for their own actions and…

This is part II of a case study involving a large federally funded technology grant program implemented across several central Texas school districts and was followed by the researcher-participant at the university level as well as one of the campus sites. Many ethical research questions were raised during this study such as the use of participant…

Higher education now finds itself in a new era and environment in which it is confronted with an array of challenges and forces for change. This paper identifies the key forces for change in higher education, assesses these forces using an established change model (the action research model), and illustrates how change literature from management,…

In this book, two teachers share their experiences as researchers to confront and address the current disagreements about whether empirical research or narrative recounting is a better research model. In the book they seek to transcend these disagreements by endorsing an integrative approach that covers all aspects of practitioner inquiry, joining…

This paper describes an action research project that investigated issues concerning the teaching and learning of numeracy in the middle years. Building on research concerning the middle years of schooling, and their own experience of teaching mathematics in years 5-8, a group of teachers, drawn from four schools, trialed strategies intended to…

This paper suggests that teacher research, as an international movement, has the potential to become a counter-hegemonic strategy to construct critical teacher education approaches in a globalized world. It begins by describing globalization and discussing the distinction between hegemonic and counter-hegemonic globalization, or between…

This research is intended to describe a program which may enhance oral language and academic achievement by implementing various instructional practices. The targeted population consisted of pre-kindergarten and kindergarten students in a Midwestern suburban unit district located in northern Illinois. Language and academic skills were assessed to…

This paper suggests that self-evaluation should be a significant component of teachers' daily work, presenting a model of systematic self-evaluation to help teachers generate classroom solutions through self-study (thus leading them to more complex forms of classroom inquiry). After a historical and theoretical perspective, the paper proposes a…

This report describes a program for the improvement of listening skills in order to increase academic performance. The targeted population consisted of elementary students in a middle class community located in western Illinois. The problem of ineffective listening skills was documented through data revealing the number of students whose lowered…