Discusses how college instructors can make teaching more professional, productive, and intellectually satisfying in the classroom. The article suggests teachers focus on student needs and be classroom researchers. This relates to tribal colleges because they educate a unique group of students, and instructors must find unique ways to present…

Examined the consequences for 5 teachers of joining a school/university partnership to inquire into the routines of 13 of their colleagues in the same district. Sought to determine whether studying peers helped teachers conduct inquiries into their own practice and how the teacher-researchers used the findings from the original study to alter…

Presents an action-research study of student scientific literacy that is analyzed by two metaphors of learning: students working in science as if they follow recipes, and students working in science as if they devise recipes. Considers the usefulness of the metaphors as a framework to provide common ground for otherwise divergent views on…

More teachers are conducting research that benefits both administrators and students. Well-trained teacher-researchers can turn their questions into researchable problems, collect and analyze data, and use findings to create knowledge and "informed action." Teacher-research is notable for savoring the particular, rather than reaching for…

Calls for social science researchers to make the leap from understanding to action. Explains action and why it must replace classical disinterestedness and objectivity. Discusses the new criteria for educational research and the new methods for interpretive researchers. Addresses the implications for higher education. (CMK)

Identifies questions teachers are learning to ask themselves and each other as they move toward a negotiated, co-constructed and systematic approach that places documentation at the heart of an emergent curriculum. Discusses these questions in terms of documentation, discourse, and design, three components that define a dynamic system of learning…

Suggests that action research is appropriate for foreign language teachers because of its emphasis on research perspectives that are particularly illuminating in foreign language classrooms, tracing the conceptual contours of action research to set the stage for two case studies by graduate teaching assistants in German who engaged in action…

Presents seven attributes of democracy (equality, important knowledge, nature of authority, inclusiveness, participatory decision making, rights, and an optimal environment). Students learn to be responsible citizens in situations where they can exercise ever-increasing power and where they have very little power. (Contains 65 references.) (MLH)

Practitioner research is a topic of growing interest and scholarly writing in the field of education in general and adult education in particular. This article describes a particular form of practitioner research that rests on a participatory worldview and draws heavily from theory and practice in adult learning and action research.…

Several accounts concerning the systematic use of action research by eminent educators in the process of identifying and solving an educational problem(s) have appeared in professional journals. Thus, action research is gaining recognition by policy makers and educators as a tool for change However, this growing concept has not yet caught up in…

This action research report describes a program to increase students' reading comprehension and fluency through the use of guided reading. The targeted population consists of second and fourth grade students in a northwest suburban area of a large city located in the Midwest. The problems of low reading comprehension and fluency scores were…

The "Teachers as Researchers in the Context of Award Bearing Courses and Research Degrees" is a United Kingdom project that explores the claims made for action research and the criticisms levelled against it. This paper offers a set of "readings" of six action research projects. After Part 1, which serves as an introduction,…

The changing role of the external researcher is explored in the context of two action research projects in Malaga (Spain). The first project was an evaluation of a trade school program for disadvantaged young people in a low-income rural area of Spain. Researchers began as friendly evaluators in a democratic evaluation of the program's first…

Self-evaluation requires teachers to have an ability to systematically reflect on their own pedagogical activities; action research supports and helps teachers in this process. This article explores the use of action research by teachers to improve both their own expertise and their educational environment. The article begins with a discussion of…

This paper examines action research that has been carried out in organizations consisting of predominantly highly educated personnel. The paper revolves around discussion of the Scandinavian model of action research, asking to what degree this model, which has been developed within the framework of industrial democracy, might also serve as a…