This article draws on insights gained from three projects described as participatory action research (PAR) undertaken in the UK. What binds them together is that each project coordinator raised the issue of the under-representation of opportunities for disruption in the possible trajectory to knowledge democracy.PAR places a relational process at…

The past few decades have witnessed an increasing separation of research and teaching, particularly in the area of undergraduate education. Supporters of such a separation have argued that involvement of undergraduates in research is incompatible with the idea of the research university. However, one of the founding principles of the research…

Engineering Students Understanding Mathematics (ESUM) is a developmental research project at a UK university. The motivating aim is that engineering students should develop a more conceptual understanding of mathematics through their participation in an innovation in teaching. A small research team has both studied and contributed to innovation,…

This paper presents the results of a project that aimed at restructuring the delivery of research methods training at the Information School at the University of Sheffield, UK, based on an Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) approach. The purpose of this research was to implement inquiry-based learning that would allow customization of research methods…

This article explores the implications for teacher education and continuous professional development (CPD) of enquiry-based learning, by drawing specifically on data collected during a four-year curriculum development and research project, Enquiring Minds (2005-9). Within the partnership approach to curriculum design endorsed by the project,…

A case study is presented of embedding research in a final year undergraduate, field-based, physical geography module. The approach is holistic, whereby research-based learning activities simulate the full life cycle of research from inception through to peer review and publication. The learning, teaching and assessment strategy emphasizes the…

At Waite End Primary School in Waterlooville, Hampshire, the authors are involved in a research project with the University of Winchester and the pharmaceutical company Astra- Zeneca called "Teachers and young children exploring their worlds together". The project focuses around their belief that "the younger a child is the more…

This paper is about Ph.Ds, practitioner-centred research and action learning. The aim of this paper is to help develop a framework for those completing doctorates based on action learning. The paper explores relationships between the personal learning of action learning participants and the public knowledge associated with conventional research.…