The involvement of people with lived experience in the design, implementation and evaluation of services has grown significantly in recent years. In parallel, the evidence base for best practice in peer research, as this approach is described, is also expanding. Sharing two practice examples, the authors reflect on key learning emerging from their…

The present dissertation in practice (DiP) proposal delineates an action research study designed to evaluate the use of problem-based learning (PBL) in an eighth-grade earth science class to assess the impact of PBL on student achievement. I have observed that students often struggle with developing an understanding of how the motions of the sun,…

Dating back to 2004, the Achieving the Dream initiative was established to promote evidence-based programs and interventions to produce and sustain student success. Achieving the Dream has created a new environment and new forms of thinking among the faculty that have spurred some to action research within their classrooms and beyond. Using three…

Now, more so than in the past, children have been deprived of the opportunity to learn and exercise effective interpersonal communication skills. Interpersonal communication skills, for elementary students, are important in the development of a student's ability to self-advocate. The purpose of this study is to identify techniques in which…

It is a common view that developing teachers' competence to restructure or reframe their knowledge and beliefs is inevitably a complex challenge. This paper reports on a research project with the aim to develop science teachers' pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) through their participation in a learning study. A learning study is a…

Rogoff (2003) argues that "Human development is a cultural process….People develop as participants in cultural communities" (p. 3). Children develop within families, and different cultures reflect differences in how they structure activity for this development. For example, middle class North American families generally would not permit…

Background: Action research (AR) for school-based curriculum innovations (SCI) has been ardently pursued in Singapore schools for the past few years, leading to a plethora of project reports published as monographs and in a new journal, the "North Star". Training workshops were conducted at the national, zonal, and school levels to equip…

This research aimed to study the use of Project-based Learning using ICT (PBL using ICT) to develop learners' five key competencies based on Thai Basic Education Curriculum 2008, which consists of 1) communication capability 2) thinking capability 3) problem solving capability 4) capability in applying life skills and 5) capability in…

This research aimed to study the use of Project-based Learning using ICT (PBL using ICT) to develop learners' five key competencies based on Thai Basic Education Curriculum 2008, which consists of 1) communication capability 2) thinking capability 3) problem solving capability 4) capability in applying life skills and 5) capability in…

The purpose of this action research study was to support the members of a fourth grade inclusion team, namely three fourth grade teachers and a teacher assistant in (1) developing a deeper understanding of student belongingness, (2) identifying teacher practices that contribute to a student's sense of belongingness, and (3) developing and…

In this article the possibility of developing authentic project work in a sixth-grade classroom of a Venezuelan school is explored, by means of action research (AR) methodology. Two AR cycles with two different projects were carried out. Data were collected via teacher researcher, co-researcher and student journals, and also by means of audio and…

How can it be that 50 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act, our institutions of higher education have still not found ways of reducing the higher education gaps for racial and ethnic groups? That is the question that informs and animates the Equity Scorecard model of organizational change. It shifts institutions' focus from what…

Increased emphasis on content coverage and test scores can be an obstacle to many middle level practices, such as curriculum integration and differentiated instruction. While an increasing number of well-prepared, exemplary middle grades educators know and understand this situation, these educators are often not the ones leading school change.…

In late 2006, SDN Children's Services, an Australian not-for-profit provider of services for children, families and communities, engaged a research team that was "embedded" within the organisation for 1 year. This action represented a significant investment of resources, such as staff time and organisational funds, and demonstrates SDN's…

Data-driven instructional decision making (or D-DIDM) is a "process by which educators examine [data] in order to identify student strengths and deficiencies" (Mertler, 2007). My view of the process of D-DIDM merges three critical educational practices: classroom-based (or site-based) action research, assessment of student learning, and…