This review was a formative assessment project designed to introduce teacher education candidates to many of the concepts and methods related to evaluation and course assessment within the framework of an actual curriculum course. Students were afforded the opportunity to work in simulated curriculum committees. Through informed decision making…

Faculty and students often express an interest in undertaking applied research that has a direct and positive impact on the community. This article focuses on the utilization and integration of a particular form of applied research, community-based participatory research (CBPR), as part of the curriculum. CBPR is a collaborative research process…

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…

This first symposium of the Work Group on American Indian Research and Program Evaluation Methodology (AIRPEM) explored American Indian and Alaska Native cultural considerations in relation to "best practices" in research and program evaluation. These cultural considerations include the importance of tribal consultation on research…

Draws on a recent Canadian study of university student services and Aboriginal students to highlight the importance of a culturally sensitive research process when exploring Aboriginal issues. Discusses involvement of participants in the three phases of the study's flexible research process, which incorporated guiding values of respect,…

Participant observation and interviews were employed in a first grade class in which a moderately mentally retarded boy participated on a part-time basis. Findings indicated significant discrepancies between the students' definitions of what it means to be part of first grade and the teacher's efforts to include Peter and present him as a member…

Considers the phenomenological arguments for collaborative approaches to educational research. Urges that cooperation become a form of social and political critique. Illustrates the political context of research by drawing on a collaborative case study of British school governors. Contends that phenomenological and critical paradigms may be…

Describes a participatory research project designed to build the feminist education of female university students. Explores the silences of some of the 100 participants over the years, silences that reflect class differences in employment, in ethnicity, as well as in the lives of the students. (SLD)

Outlines Scottish national policy guidelines on "education for sustainable development" (environmental education for ages 5-14) and implications for primary schools. Describes a 2-year project in which a research team helped staff at an elementary school to articulate their own understanding of environmental education and develop…

This article describes the characteristics of Participatory Research and Development (PR&D), a means of integrating research and practice by linking the university research and teacher practice. It outlines related methods and activities, details a number of qualitative findings regarding the nature of instructional change, and discusses the…

Throughout its history, adult literacy education has been defined, researched, and controlled by external entities. Action research is now enabling literacy practitioners and learners to gain a voice through production of their own knowledge. The applicability, benefits, and inherent risks of practitioner action research are discussed. Contains 53…

This article discusses a participatory action research (PAR) approach to conducting family research. It proposes a model of PAR implementation level including the options of family members as research leaders and researchers as ongoing advisors, researchers and family members as coresearchers, and researches as leaders, and family members as…

An anthropologist of Indigenous descent reflects on challenges confronting researchers in mainstream institutions as they pursue respectful research relationships with Indigenous peoples. Challenges include differing cultural attitudes toward knowledge and research, institutional policies on publication and intellectual property, political issues,…

We introduce participatory action research as a strategy for "consultation with." We elaborate the possibilities and limits of participatory consultation as a strategy that enables sustained relations with communities of material poverty and resilience wealth. Consulting with an activist organization, and dedicated to producing a…

In this paper I ask how educational researchers can believe the subjective perceptions of qualitative participant-observers given the concern for objectivity and generalisability of experimental research in the behavioural and social sciences. I critique the most common answer to this question within the educational research community, which…