This paper describes a process of self-study that has developed between two teacher educators, their student teachers, and their school-based colleagues. The impetus for the research comes from a three-year action research project investigating the organization of and the instruction in a school integrated teacher education course aimed at…

This study focused on understanding why at-risk seventh-grade students often perform poorly in school and how implementing certain strategies can help motivate them to positive classroom performance. The goal was to find ways to help at-risk students become more involved in their schoolwork. Literature has shown that motivation comes from the…

This study explored alternative approaches to young people's concerts aimed at extending musical appreciations and cultural understandings while promoting interest in concert attendance among upper elementary students. The project, an artistic and cross-cultural collaboration grounded in a spirit of mutual respect, consisted of three components:…

The process of classroom observation is experienced by all, teaching in further, adult and higher education. This will either be as part of the organisation's quality assurance procedure, in-service staff completing teaching awards or the training of pre-service student teachers. Given its evaluative nature, it is a practice that generates strong…

This article discusses practitioner research that focused on student resistance to teaching about the apartheid past and issues of "race" in a first year English studies course at a predominantly Afrikaans and "white" university in South Africa. The study aimed to explore the way in which students and the teacher engaged with a…

This paper reflects our commitments as teacher educators to develop the skills, knowledge and interests amongst "nearly qualified teachers" to establish action learning as an integral part of their professional practice. We outline the development of an undergraduate unit that is endeavouring to achieve this at Edith Cowan University,…

This paper presents an action-research case study that focuses on experiences of collaboration in a problem-based learning (PBL) course in Zoology. Our PBL model was developed as a research activity in partnership with a commercial organisation. Consequently, learning was grounded in genuine situations of practice in which a high degree of…

Portuguese schools in urban areas became multicultural during the 90s. Some students are quite distanced from the school culture. Many repeat grades. The curriculum emerges as a means of (re)organizing school practice, so that it is designed to foster inclusion. It is a tool for social mediation between the culture and knowledge of teenagers, and…

As a part of the teacher licensure program at the graduate level at The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), the M.Ed. Licensure candidate is required to complete an action research project during a 3-semester-hour course that coincides with the 9-semester-hour student teaching experience. This course, Education 590 Culminating…

This chapter presents five case histories that describe literacy education practices in rural areas of England. All programs include the use of action research and the concept of open learning. Open learning is a nontraditional approach to education that includes the use of learning centers, computers, audio- and videotapes, and distance…

The gap between researchers and teachers has minimized the impact that research should have on school development. Using teachers as researchers is one way of empowering them to adopt the perspective of the researcher. Research-oriented activity is then seen as one promising means of improving the teachers' pedagogical expertise. It is assumed…

An action research project in Canada set up a penpal program between preservice teachers and middle school children. Its purpose was to promote the literacy development of the younger students and to provide the preservice students with an understanding of adolescents. Although the first year was especially successful and rewarding--the highlights…

School reform in the 1990s has been focused on school-based restructuring, with local efforts shown to be more successful than earlier central or remote control approaches. Success has followed changes in teachers' classroom behavior, in the structure of the school, and its school culture. The local school restructuring approach is illustrated…

The primary objective of a project undertaken by the University of Dayton (Ohio) and a local school district was to create an environment of academic inquiry built on a strong foundation of collaboration between the school district and the university. Using the Getzel Model of organizational interaction, teachers were paid, encouraged, and…

This paper proposes that despite the anticipated benefits of classroom research for improved instruction, there are identifiable factors that can interfere with its effectiveness. Examples are drawn from three research projects, undertaken in English-as-a-Second-Language instructional settings. First, the steps in the classroom research process…