ERIC Number: ED397051
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1996-Apr-11
Pages: 30
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Democratic Pedagogy as Content and Method in Teacher Education: Conversation as Research-in-Action.
Alibrandi, Marsha; Seigel, Susan
This study examined student and instructor reflection upon a 2-year teacher education seminar designed to provide experiential and theoretical grounding in democratic pedagogy. Through conversation-as-research, instructors interpreted group dynamics in their conversations during breaks, lunch hours, and evenings throughout the seminar. The central issues guiding the research-in action were: (1) how instructors might co-construct with students a 'democratic dynamic' in a seminar designed to present the topic in both content and method; and (2) how instructors might balance the goals of the seminar content with its process and with students' needs. Seminar participants were mostly graduate students and some undergraduate students; the graduate students were practicing teachers. Findings revealed that collaborative instruction was critical, that conversation was the principal medium for negotiated change, and that certain critical conversations were central to the development of democratic learning communication. (Contains 34 references.) (CK)
Descriptors: Action Research, Classroom Communication, Conflict Resolution, Course Objectives, Democratic Values, Graduate Study, Group Dynamics, Higher Education, Participative Decision Making, Problem Solving, Secondary Education, Seminars, Social Cognition, Teacher Collaboration, Teacher Education, Teacher Educators, Teacher Researchers, Teacher Student Relationship, Teaching Models
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (New York, NY, April 8-12, 1996).