This study explores the sense of efficacy, perceptions of benefits, and concerns among high school students participating in an AP Research course during the 2021-2022 academic year. The investigation includes an evaluation of students' satisfaction with course materials and delivery. Data, gathered through surveys and individual essays, underwent…

The Higher School Certificate is a certificate that recognises the successful completion of secondary education in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. The most recent enrolment information available suggests that at least 13,472 students undertaking the NSW Higher School Certificate (HSC) in 2019 conducted research projects that involved human…

This paper introduces a partnership between researchers in Education Sciences and high school students and discusses the students' perceptions of the effects of taking on the role of researchers in Education Sciences. These partnerships were established to develop a project in which high school students researched their school's everyday life in…

Information literacy (IL) is a multifaceted skill that encompasses information seeking, identifying research questions, finding answers to research questions, and then evaluating and using information appropriately (ALA 2001). Much research has been conducted on the low level of IL found amongst high school students. Failure to make connections…

Student learning in science is improved by authentic personal experience of research projects and the publication of findings. Graduate students do this, but it is uncommon to find student research and publishing in high school science programs. We describe here the Student Research and Publishing Program (SRPP) established at International School…

This article describes how adolescent students learn to question their lives and contexts through the "Crossing Boundaries" podcast assignment. In the assignment, the students pick a topic, design a project, interview at least one other individual, and analyze their data. The students do not realize they are engaging in original…

Science and technology are argued to have controversial consequences on individuals, societies and environments. Citizens' socio-political activism seems paramount to address these consequences. This paper reports on Venezuelan students' socio-political actions on socioscientific issues highly relevant to them. It particularly focuses on students'…

High school seniors' success in making the transition to college hinges greatly on their ability to perform college-level research. Studies pointing out failure to provide this critical preparation abound (Head 2013; Head and Eisenberg 2010). Helping students make this leap is the topic of much research and discussion between members of the…

Existing research shows that high school students do not possess information literacy skills adequate to function in a high-tech society that relies so heavily on information. If students are taught these skills, they struggle to apply them. This small-scale intervention focused on helping Geography students at a low-socioeconomic high school in…

Many teacher education programs include different forms of teachers doing research. Be it in the form of action research or general inquiries about their practice, it has been argued that when teachers do research on their own practice, they are able to take a more reflective stance towards their work which is necessary to bring about educational…

To address the persistent failure of schooling to support underserved students, youth participatory action research (YPAR) has emerged as an alternative and critical paradigm for educational practice. YPAR re-centers authority on marginalized voices and understands research as a tool for social change. Grounded in critical pedagogy, such projects…

The authors investigate how innovative research assignments based on students' personal interests can help them want to develop their research skills. They find that multimodal communication and representation, including film, written scripts, comic strips, music, and photography, encourage students to carefully select information from the…

For the past two and a half years, Research for Action (RFA) worked with student members of Youth United for Change (YUC) and Philadelphia Student Union (PSU). Over that time, these young people have committed themselves to learning social science research methods and conducted a study of their changing schools. Their motivation to be youth…

In this article we explore the concept of quality in teacher action research by re-examining our participation with science teachers in several different collaborative action research projects. We conducted second-order action research and generated a series reflexive conditions for promoting and ensuring quality action research. We assert that a…

The purpose of this article is to discuss "small-group apprenticeships (SGAs)" as a method to instruct cell culture techniques to high school participants. The study aimed to teach cell culture practices and to introduce advanced imaging techniques to solve various biomedical engineering problems. Participants designed and completed experiments…