Describes a project-based distance learning course design in an open university course. Discusses approaches to course design in distance learning and suggests that students are not as easily manipulated by instructional devices as course designers may think. (CFR)

Proposes restructuring preservice teacher education programs to include the preparation of teacher researchers. Teacher educators redesigned two existing programs to include research methodology instruction. The paper presents methods of inquiry and strategies used to teach about research, offering examples of student work and evidence to support…

Reports on an action research study on improving equality of opportunity for students in a socially and racially mixed classroom. Finds that students were empowered by their involvement setting up and drawing conclusions from the study. Questions the extent to which research should focus on race, social class, or gender. (CFR)

A faculty development program that encourages faculty from different disciplines to engage in research on student cognition, motivation, and self-regulated learning in their own classrooms teaches theory as well as practice. The program has been well received by faculty and has also produced useful results for academic departments and the…

Support for elite student-athletes was explored within a single English university using Stringer's (1996) Look, Think, Act model of action research. Entry to the ongoing support programme is competitive and participation is voluntary, with sessions delivered every second week after lectures. Based on supporting documentation, interviews, focus…

This article presents a model for conceptualising learner involvement in online environments. It takes as its starting point the emerging approach to service-user engagement in public-sector change in the United Kingdom. This is focused upon civic inclusion and empowered decision making. In turn this personalisation is related to issues…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the ecology of collaboration between school and university partners using an appreciative inquiry theoretical perspective and to demonstrate how it enhances the social capital in school and university partnerships. Design/methodology/approach: A case study of a partnership of an inner-city high…

Remarks on current educational language precede discussions of: pupils' educational development; pupil voice; adolescence and action research. There follows a report of an innovation in religious education pedagogy, designed to address concerns that pupils should be helped to understand the emergence of their own beliefs and values over time. This…

This chapter addresses the role of action research in projects that link literacy education and cultural action in peripheral rural areas. These programs aim to improve the living conditions of a population without destroying its cultural heritage or way of life. Action research begins with three broad questions: In what terms do local people pose…

This paper describes the development of a research project in 1993 to address concerns and issues related to education of Aboriginal students in the Shoalhaven area of New South Wales, Australia. Specifically, the purpose of the project was to examine the relationships between Aboriginal communities, students, and their schools, and important…

This paper describes and interprets an action research project that supported student teachers learning to teach physical education in a community-based, after-school games program. Ten student teachers taught 10 lessons to elementary school children, under the guidance of 3 supervisory teachers, who were graduate students, and one program…

Three approaches to in-service development for teachers (action research, skills development, and materials dissemination) were compared using a multimethod evaluation design with innovation-specific and general outcome measures for students and teachers. Thirty-three teachers and their students participated in a project to teach students how to…

This paper reports research from four studies of how teachers come to learn professional knowledge based on theoretical frameworks of the developmental theories of Piaget (cognitive development), Kohlberg (moral development), Loevinger (ego development), and Hunt (conceptual development). Studies proceed on the assumption that a perspective of…

The focus of this monograph is on the distinctions between questions addressed in research on teaching and issues of concern in teacher education and on the interplay of curricular, contextual, and pedagogical issues in both public schools and university settings. The publication is organized into seven chapters: (1) "Action Research and the Work…

This study examined ways in which teachers use their own experiences and those of their colleagues to become better teachers, based on case studies of a group of eight physics teachers engaged in collaborative action research. Two perspectives on teaching that have framed other inquiries are first discussed: the teacher knowledge perspective,…