This dissertation examines the dynamics of research-practice partnerships (RPPs) through a qualitative multiple-case study that explores the boundary work between university researchers and K-12 practitioners. It is framed within Wenger's communities of practice theory and focuses on the concept of 'boundary work,' which is pivotal in…

Connecting chemistry educators at the high school and secondary education level with chemistry education researchers in academia has never been more vitally needed, and yet these groups are still frustratingly divided. Structural differences in the way in which secondary educators go about their business, both through the business of being a high…

This article examines leadership and practitioner professional learning (PL) across two multi-school networks. This ethnographic empirical study involved the development of research communities comprised of teacher-led research projects in collaboration with academic researchers (ourselves). We explore what the impact this type of PL and our role…

As an essential community of practice which could facilitate teachers' professional development and enrich research in teacher education, the teacher--researcher partnership (TRP) has not been sufficiently investigated in China. As reported in this paper, we conducted an empirical study on TRPs between secondary school mathematics teachers and…

This article uses an existing poem, "Árvore" (Tree in Portuguese), coupled with our diary entries, as a methodological innovation in poetic self-study. The self-study aimed to understand the aesthetic link in the development of being a teacher-researcher. This was a departure from positivist rationality and affirmation of an…

The era of innovation in education is well underway. Effective practices demonstrate the power of technology in motivating students and improving learning outcomes. This paper examines the integration of the talking image, a new and innovative technology, into the educational process through a case study. It also sets out the methodology and the…

In this essay, Pei Pei Liu identifies the act of unveiling a completed portrait to solicit participant response as central to the conceptualization of portraiture. While this explicit extension of research relationships into the study "aftermath" distinguishes portraiture from many other qualitative methods, little practical guidance…

The implications of how teacher development courses (TDCs) should be designed for integrated STEM education are essential for in-class STEM education practices. This study compares the three TDCs accomplished to support teachers' professional development (PD) for integrated STEM education in terms of pedagogical knowledge, technological knowledge,…

This book focuses on the impact of sustained and evolving collaborations, showcasing research and scholarship in a faculty group--consisting of 28 professors from five regional universities--meeting and supporting each other since 2002. Originally an innovation introduced by Cheryl J. Craig and funded by a reform movement, the Faculty Academy…

This work documents the collaboration between the Physics department of the University of Calabria and some schools of the region in a project devoted to recovering disused instrumentation in school laboratories. The project has been conceived as a workplace experience for the students, i.e. a learning experience in a real work place. In Italy,…

Recently, the chemistry education community has focused considerable effort on incorporating systems thinking into chemistry education as a means to address global challenges such as sustainability. In this project, a series of exploratory workshops was held with secondary educators (N = 12) and tertiary educators and researchers (N = 16),…

Ethnography as a methodological approach presents the fieldworker with many ethical crossroads throughout the research process. This is because of the unique position that ethnographers find themselves in, the environments that they research and the relationships which are formed. This paper presents four confessional vignettes from a broader…

This paper features the first-hand 'lived' experiences of one current university researcher on how social class across his lifelong educational journey has impacted his political dispositions. Written in an autobiographical style, the paper examines four successive life phases, beginning with working-class life in East London in the 1950s, failure…

For three weeks each June, the authors' PDS hosts a summer program called the Academy for Future Teachers (AFT), serving high school students interested in a teaching career. Partners across the PDS convene to support high-school AFT participants, including master teachers (P-12 teachers from local school districts and university faculty) and PDS…

[This paper is part of the Focused Collection on Curriculum Development: Theory into Design.] In the "standard" physics education research curriculum-development model, researchers are cast primarily as producers of curricula and instructors are cast primarily consumers, i.e., adopters and adapters. We illustrate a complementary model in…