This article considers the nature of complexity and design, as well as relationships between the two, and suggests that design may have much potential as an approach to improving human performance in situations seen as complex. It is developed against two backgrounds. The first is a world view that derives from second order cybernetics and radical…

Young people say that participation in civic youth work provides a rich experience. From the official perspective, learning is the focus, and most programs call themselves a form of experiential education. Young people do learn something from these initiatives but not always in ways experiential education theory suggests. Data from a study of the…

This study illustrates the use of analytic memos during the action research process as a space to support preservice teachers' emerging teacher identity and construction of practice through critical reflexivity. The authors reviewed 34 sets of analytic memos written by graduate preservice teachers by asking, "How are preservice teachers using the…

The use of portfolios in the professional development of teachers and other professionals working in education has become widespread in the United Kingdom. There is an assumption that such an approach to assessment for graduate award-bearing programmes will support the learning and development of teaching professionals and allow them to…

This document presents the proceedings of the 20th Annual Research Forum held June 25, 2015, at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Included are the following 21 action research papers: (1) History Lives! The Use of Simulations in a High School Social Studies Classroom (Lydia Adkins); (2) Using Francophone Music in the High…

This case study uses the How People Learn (HPL) framework as the conceptual model to examine an online course in a teacher licensure program for evidence of high level learning outcomes that involve collaboration, reflection, mentoring, and problem solving. The HPL framework focuses on the learning environment and indicates that effective learning…

This teacher research study examines the literary talk and classroom community that emerged during Book Club meetings, fishbowl discussions, and a Retrospective Reflection session which transpired in my fifth grade classroom over the course of two thematic units. Themes of cultural awareness and belonging served to help students flesh out social…

Using a grounded theory approach to investigate the multidimensional reflections of two Reading Recovery teachers, this inquiry responds to calls for research on reflection and provides information for the field of education in understanding the nature of teachers' reflections and how they inform teaching practices. Reading Recovery is a…

"The Safe Space Kit" is designed to help educators create a safe space for LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) students. One of the most effective ways for an educator to create a safe space is to be a supportive ally to LGBT students. The hard copy of "The Safe Space Kit" includes the "Guide to Being an Ally," ten "Safe Space" stickers…

The escalating crisis in capitalist relations around the world demands a variety of responses that unmask the confusing structures that perpetuate asymmetrical power relations, while reframing what is truly in the interests of the majority of people. Industrial unions in the U.S. have at times aspired to such an advocacy role, but currently offer…

This paper explores the work of an ongoing research project at University College Cork (UCC) which has sought to further the understanding of students in the BA Early Childhood Studies (BAECS) programme on issues of global diversity, set within childhood contexts. It tracks the process of development of the project thus far, highlighting key…

Community engagement has been used for many years to enhance and strengthen teacher education courses, preparing student teachers with real life learning experiences as they work with community groups in mutually beneficial projects. This research examines a community engagement project that involved 13 undergraduate creative arts students who…

The purpose of this research is to develop a performance evaluation instrument for green schools in Taiwan. The instrument is designed according to three sets of criteria: participation and partnership, reflection and learning, and ecological consideration. It also covers three operational dimensions: learning context, administration, and…

Students often attain memorable experiences from cadaver dissections through reflective writing. For many, facing a dissection for the first time elicits a wide range of emotions. These may include thoughts of their own mortality to the sheer admiration of knowing that someone cared enough to help others learn about the body, even in death. Poems…

Testing the hypotheses that reflective timed-essay prompts should elicit memories of meaningful experiences in students' undergraduate education, and that computer-mediated classroom experiences should be salient among those memories, a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods paints a richer, more complex picture than either…