This essay provides a window into an eighth-grade class engaged in a legislative curriculum drama. The author, an eighth-grade social studies and literature teacher at a private New York City elementary school, describes her use of a legislative curriculum drama to make an eight-week study of the legislative branch of government a more dynamic and…

I, a teacher-researcher, present my fifth graders with an interesting but incorrect student-constructed proposal first seen in 1996. The students used the patterns they had detected while solving the chessboard task to formulate counterarguments. The five types of counterarguments which emerged offer insights into the children's understanding of…

This chapter examines benefits and pitfalls inherent in studying teaching and learning from the inside where the teacher is also the principal investigator of the research. The first section describes a first-person account of a trajectory using inquiry as a means of practice and using practice as a medium for research. Then, three cases of…

The recent pedagogical "boom" in English studies and the seeming omnipresence of the term pedagogy have not been matched by a correspondingly radical shift in how educators prepare professors of English. Instead, Shari J. Stenberg argues, "professing" remains primarily defined by conceptions of research. Stenberg insists that pedagogy will not be…

This book presents ways that preservice and inservice teachers can conduct research in their classrooms, showing how they can carefully and systematically ask and answer their own questions about learning. Seven chapters focus on: (1) "Try to Love the Questions Themselves: Finding and Framing a Research Question"; (2) "Form and Function: The…

This report describes a project on the implementation of authentic assessment methods in order to show an authentic picture of students progress and abilities. The targeted population consisted of approximately 40 eighth grade students in 2 classes in a suburb of a major midwestern city. The problems with current assessment methods were documented…

This study documents the development of 13 masters degree candidates as they progressed through a course in educational research methods. Eight were inservice teachers and five were preservice teachers who had completed student teaching. Part of an ongoing assessment effort at a small college instituting a new masters in education program, the…

This paper focuses on the work of a teacher whose school-based action research was awarded a Post Graduate Diploma. The paper attempts to show how the excitement of what is learned in a community of teacher researchers is transferred to classroom communities of students. The story is told by the teacher, her deputy principal, a student teacher,…

Useful as a classroom text and self-teaching tool, this book outlines the process of designing and reporting action research projects in schools. The underlying assumption of the book is that research is not a domain that belongs only to academics, but is a powerful approach that can be used by practitioners to contribute to school renewal and…

Many school-based inservice teacher training programs are available to Japanese teachers, including observing classes in other schools, inviting parents to observe and provide feedback, and conducting collaborative research on the teaching-learning process (Jugyou Kenkyu). This article highlights Jugyou Kenkyu, which is based on three steps…

This compendium focuses on intellectual property law, which includes copyrights, patents, and trademarks as well as applications of intellectual property in distance learning software, the Internet, and research data. It includes formal journal articles, policies, and outlines from the National Association of College and University Attorneys. Ten…

This collection of papers examines the hidden risks that teacher researchers may face in action research. There are 12 papers in three parts. Part 1, "School-Based Researchers," includes: (1) "Drafting Ethical Guidelines for Teacher Research in Schools" (Marian M. Mohr); (2) "'Tuesday Night' Revisited: Learning to Survive" (Leslie Turner Minarik);…

This how-to guide to classroom inquiry takes educators through the process step-by-step, from beginning to end, answering critical questions on developing the research plan, collecting and analyzing the data, and writing and publishing the results. Seven chapters include: (1) "Teacher Inquiry Defined" (e.g., what teacher inquiry is and how it…

This paper examines France's attempts, difficulties, and issues related to developing a new collaborative relationship between university-based researchers and school-based practitioners and a new evaluative policy that includes social partners. The first section of the paper introduces the theoretical background and methodology of the study. The…

A teacher-researcher model that takes into account the constraints in the teaching environment is described. Four characteristics of teaching/learning are: (1) need for continual examination; (2) learning activities as compromises in face of influences and constraints; (3) learning as interactional activity; and (4) public accountability of…